


The Boy With Blue Hair

by IsaWilson76



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Metahuman William Clayton, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-02-21 17:06:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 25,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22366855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IsaWilson76/pseuds/IsaWilson76
Summary: From the Transcript of the Zoe Ramirez Tapes: "This story is not about assigning blame. It's about learning to take responsibility. Yeah, William could have taken responsibility. I could have taken responsibility. Black Siren definitely could have, and at least ten other people could have done so. But none of us ever did, and that's why William is gone. I'm sorry."
Relationships: William Clayton & Earth-2 Laurel Lance, William Clayton & Felicity Smoak, William Clayton & Oliver Queen, William Clayton & Zoe Ramirez
Comments: 9
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter 1

_Curtis Holt walked into the interrogation room with a camera in one hand and two Big Belly Burger bags in another. He walked up to John Diggle and set one of the takeout bags in front of him._

" _Here." He said to the burly man. "I got your favorite." He turned to Zoe who was twirling her hair and set the other bag in front of her. "Hey, Zo. Don't worry, I told them to add extra cheese to your burger. I also got fries, but I couldn't carry a milkshake with the camera and the bags so - you know, it just would have been a mess everywhere."_

_Zoe looked up and smiled at someone whom she considered to be her cool uncle, aside from Oliver Queen and the man in front of her. "It's ok, Curtis. It's cool you brought us food. Thank you."_

" _Alright." Curtis began setting up the tripod for the camera while John Diggle sat across the table from where Zoe was. There were a few lights overhead and two-way mirrors on parallel sides of the table. The back of the room was illuminated under the lights, making the sapphire blue paint of the wall even more soothing and inviting. If Zoe had to guess, she would say that they used this color scheme to make interrogations stress-free and appealing for open communication._

" _Zoe?" John asked her in a gentle voice. "I know how hard this is for you considering everything that's happened, but I want you to know that your dad is right outside, so if you want to stop or take a minute, just let me know, ok?"_

" _It's ok." She said to him while twirling her hair. "I know they're listening." She looked at the mirrors on the wall, where she couldn't see the adults of Team Arrow, but she knew that they could see_ _her_ _. "I want them_ _to listen." She picked at her burger but had no desire to eat at a moment's notice._

" _We're all set," Curtis announced._

" _All set." John sat down across the table from Zoe. "Thank you, Curtis." Zoe gave a brief smile at the taller man who gave a thumbs-up to her._

* * *

**From the Transcript of the Zoe Ramirez Tapes:**

_**John Diggle:** _ _Will you state your full name for the record, please?_

 _**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _Zoe P_ _á_ _ssaro Ramirez._

 _**John Diggle:** _ _Why have you come here today?_

 _**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _I came here to tell you the story about The Boy with Blue Hair._

 _**John Diggle:** _ _Can you elaborate on that, please?_

 _**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _It's been two weeks since William went missing, and I know there's been a lot of debate on whether or not to arrest him, but before you do anything, I just need you to hear the whole story first._

 _**John Diggle:** _ _So, you've come here to testify on William's behalf?_

 _**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _Yes._

 _ **John Diggle:**_ _Are you doing it_ _a witness? To atone for_ your _part in everything?_

 _**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _No, I'm not doing this for myself. I'm doing it to set the record straight. Only (pause) I'm not really sure where to start._

 _**John Diggle:** _ _Why don't you start from the beginning? Then go slow from there?_

 _**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _Ok, the beginning it is._

* * *

**Ten Months Earlier**

**May 2018**

Star City Middle School was a zoo, to say the least. The children were either roughhousing, taking selfies or throwing spitballs at someone's head. The classroom was filled with ambient chatter that was as loud as New York City traffic and their world history teacher had yet to arrive.

William was the only one who was quiet. He was texting his best friend, Zoe Ramirez and laughing at the funny emojis and memes she sent to him. She was in another class then, but they would always be free to hang out together after school let out.

Suddenly, the bell rang, and the teacher, Tyler Morris called out, "Alright, phones away. Eyes on the board."

As the class filled into their seats, Mr. Morris picked up a slip of paper on his desk.

"William Clayton?"

His back straightened at the speed of a bullet. "Present."

"I'm not taking attendance." Mr. Morris clarified. "You're excused per Ms. Cho's request. She wants to talk to you about the new tutoring schedule so you might as well head down to her office right now."

"Um, shouldn't people like that be homeschooled?" A girl called out while looking at an old tabloid article about Oliver Queen on her phone.

"People like what, Denise?"

"You know, kids who were conceived in a mansion after happy hour?"

As William came near the door, fiery rage burned inside him as he heard the other students laughing at him. But he never allowed it to rise. The last thing he needed was for another fight to ensue because he lost his temper. Besides, he was already used to such comments from his obnoxious classmates.

"Denise, turn off your phone." Mr. Morris said to her. He saw William who was still at the door. "I'll help you catch up during Study Hall."

"Mr. Morris?" Another classmate, Kenny, shot up his hand.

"What?" The teacher asked irritably.

"My dad couldn't keep it in his pants when he had me." He said. "Can I be excused?"

"Put a sock in it, Kenny." Mr. Morris responded just as William left the classroom while he heard the classmates laughing, but whether they were laughing at Kenny or his comment, William didn't want to be near them to find out.

Years later, when asked about his middle school days, William would say to the agreement of his former classmates, that it was as though he were bathing in leeches on a regular basis.

* * *

**From the Transcript of the Zoe Ramirez Tapes:**

_**John Diggle:** _ _According to school reports, William would rarely participate in class but would spend two hours after school studying with his teachers nearly every day. After Black Siren stole the city's money earlier that year, all after-school programs were shut down and the tutoring sessions were moved to study hall and lunch period during the day to save on the school's budget. But getting back to William, it seems by all accounts, he was quiet, but he was also a good kid. What do you think, Zoe?_

 _**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _I think he wanted to focus on his grades so he could distract himself from all the rumors. I mean, he had a couple of friends besides me, but most kids just stayed away from him. So (pause) I guess that's why he seemed so mature to adults because he had practice talking to them. At least the teachers couldn't laugh about him behind his back._

 _**John Diggle:** _ _Sounds like a pretty miserable life for a sixth-grader._

 _**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _No, he wasn't miserable. He just didn't fit in._

 _**John Diggle:** _ _Why do you say that?_

 _**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _With all due respect, Mr. Diggle, we are talking about middle school here. It's one thing to be the new kid there, but it's another if you're the new kid who happens to be the long-lost illegitimate son of a former billionaire playboy who's also the mayor and secretly fighting crime while shooting arrows. Who knows? Maybe he never spoke in class because he didn't want to be the center of attention any more than he already had been._

 _**John Diggle:** _ _That sounds like a lot for a twelve-year-old kid to handle._

 _**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _Yeah it was (Pause). Look, it wasn't easy for him to adjust to an entirely different life than the one he had with his mom, I mean, he was literally thrown into it. But William wasn't the person to just give up so easily. He just kept putting on a brave face and trying to make the situation as normal as possible. That was just the best way he knew how to deal with stress, especially when it happened._

 _**John Diggle:** _ _When what happened?_

* * *

William, Zoe, and a couple of their friends ate lunch like any other day. Grant was eating his chili cheese fries, Sandra, her salad, Zoe, her fried chicken, and William, his pizza. They didn't really care who the other was, as long as they had someone to eat lunch and make conversation with.

When the school bell rang and everyone filled into the hallway corridors, William walked with Zoe to their math class.

"Hey, Zo?" William stopped in the middle of the stream of students around them. "Can you save a seat for me? I'm just going be a few minutes late."

"Sure, is everything ok?" Zoe replied.

"Yeah, I just gotta use the restroom for a sec," William told her.

"Ok, but you shouldn't be late. Ms. Shenker might have a pop quiz today." Zoe said to her friend before she watched him move his way through the crowd.

When William came through the doors, the last remaining students rushed out to get to class, leaving him utterly alone in the somewhat clean bathroom.

Turning on the faucet, he put his books down and filled his hands with water before rubbing it on his face. He recoiled from the sting of the water's ice-cold temperature. It seemed to snap him out of his daze, but it did nothing to resolve the unsettling he was beginning to experience.

There was a pressure - no - an **essence** rising within him, but it wasn't red and destructive as though he were to explode with a sudden rage. This was something uniquely different and strange. People tend to fear what is strange, especially if it's coming from within their own bodies.

He couldn't have possibly known what was happening to him, but William realized quickly enough that there was Something in him - a presence that had been wanting to break through him as though it were a lonely prisoner trapped within a sealed vault for many years.

William didn't know if he was losing his sanity or not, but whatever the Something was, it was very real as it began to creep inside him. His stomach twisted and turned in all sorts of contortions as he suddenly began to experience a swarm of invisible ants crawling all over his skin.

He was about to open his eyes when he found himself stumbling his way into one of the bathroom stalls, the Something had let him fall through the door as if it never existed at all. A trail of silvery mist left his body once he fell into the stall and a chill traveled through him it did.

The Something in William had finally woken and it would not be put down to rest.

Before he could begin to comprehend the situation, he felt a light breeze brush his arms. He looked down on them and saw his suddenly transparent hands. The Something had risen again, this time spreading from the tips of his fingers to his elbows, replacing every cell of flesh, blood, and bone with air particles, while turning his arms completely invisible.

Despite his elevating emotions, William tried to apply logic to the changes he was suddenly facing. He tried to be brave and use the Scientific Method that he had known by heart since second grade, but he was too overwhelmed with shock to even think, never mind calling out for help. He tried to move but found himself unable to since his feet had started to slowly sink into the floor, pulling William further into the depths of confusion.

Puberty at its finest.


	2. Chapter 2

**From the Transcript of the Zoe Ramirez Tapes:**

_**John Diggle:** _ _When did you first realize that something was wrong?_

 _**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _When William didn't show up to class._

* * *

Zoe ran out of their math class after Ms. Schenker let her go with her hall pass. It only took several doors down the hallway before she ran into the boys' bathroom, regardless of the sign. No one else was in the bathroom then, thankfully, but Zoe regretted coming in as soon as she did. The smell of rotting diarrhea and the sight of dark yellow stains on the urinals made this place almost unbearable for anyone.

Someone once spread a rumor that an eyeball was sitting in a toilet in one of the girls' bathrooms, but none of the 8th-grade science labs claimed it.

William?" She called to the gray stalls. "William?"

"Zoe?" Following the source of the voice, Zoe found it coming from the biggest bathroom stall that was completely locked.

"Wait, stop!" He must have seen her coming when she bent her knees slightly and peaked under the crack separating the stall's edge from the tile floor.

"William?" She froze in shock upon seeing what was left of his sunken body. His legs had completely disappeared into the floor as if they were encased in wet cement. From where she was standing, it looked like someone had chopped William's body in half and left his torso on the ground for display.

Zoe couldn't begin to understand half of what was going on, but she couldn't panic. Not when the floor was literally swallowing her best friend.

"Is everything ok?" She asked. "Do you want me to-"

"NO!" William suddenly protested, more rudely than he should have. "I mean, don't do anything yet! Please."

"Ok, but I just came to tell you that class started fifteen minutes ago, and Ms. Schenker's got half a mind to put you in detention," Zoe said to him. "I can come back later if you want."

"Thanks." She heard him reply. "I'm sorry if I sound like a jerk, it's just that I-"

"William, I get it, even if I don't really understand it." She said to him rather quickly. "But those ARGUS agents who are watching us are going to be here looking for you if you don't show up to class in the next five minutes."

"Got it." She heard William affirmatively respond to her. "If they do come, tell them I'll be right out in a second."

"Ok." Zoe agreed before stepping out of the bathroom into the lockers nearby. She stood against the metal lockers, before slowly descending to the floor.

* * *

_**Excerpt from the New Era of Adolescence: On the Basis of MetaPuberty written by Dr. Caitlin Snow M.D (Published from the Central City Picture News, 2025) pg. 32** _

… _the amount of research observing those who were affected by the Particle Accelerator Explosion, concludes that these people are more likely to experience such unique changes either during or after puberty._

_Although it is impossible to determine exactly what age their powers will manifest, metahumans will develop their abilities at a young age due to their hormones making it easier for their bodies to handle these powers. Though a considerable number of children were exposed to the dark matter that night, 52% of them never developed any of their abilities until they reached adolescence. The first known case of this phenomenon was a young boy in Star City, who has asked to remain anonymous during this research. He was eight years old when the Explosion occurred but did not develop any abilities until the year 2018 when he was 12. Like most young children who were affected then, the boy's abilities manifested at a time when this form of adolescence was thought to be a delayed reaction, which at the time, wasn't too far from the truth._

_The information and treatment we have with our outreach programs for helping young metahumans today, was nonexistent in 2018. It wasn't until the following year, when Star Labs began studying the case of Allegra Garcia, that the term_ Metapuberty _was first coined by one of my colleagues, Francisco Ramon, Ph.D._

* * *

"What do I do?" Zoe's breathing was barely visible. "What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?" Her rising panic was matched by her rapidly shortening inhales and exhales. Fortunately, she managed to quickly snap out of it, once she remembered what the stakes were during the moment.

She rose from the floor and pulled out her phone from the pocket of her jeans.

Her back stiffened; she was unsure of which number to choose. Her index finger hesitated over the contact app on her phone and then drifted away when she didn't press it. Who could a 12-year-old possibly reach out to and ask for help when her friend had suddenly gained powers out of the blue?

The school nurse? Absolutely not. Ms. Roberta would freak at the sight of a human being who was stuck halfway through the floor. She was also sure that a guidance counselor wouldn't know what to say about the situation, either.

Would it be a good idea to call 911? Well, she could, but what was she supposed to say other than "Help! My friend has superpowers and can't control them! I need an ambulance!"

The Flash? Forget it. She was sure that even William didn't know the Scarlet Speedster's email address.

Wait.

She began scrolling through her contacts list until she found Dinah Drake's contact information and pressed the call button. Her Aunt Dinah had powers of her own, so maybe **she** would know how to handle this.

" _ **Hello, this is Lieutenant Dinah Drake. I am unable to take your call at this time. Please leave your message, and I will get back to you."**_

Zoe let out a curse. Of course, ever since Ricardo Diaz broke into their homes, Team Arrow had been working around the clock to try and catch him. It was because of that particular incident last Friday that Mr. and Mrs. Diggle insisted on employing two ARGUS agents to watch both of the children during their school hours. They didn't mind Mr. Sykes and Ms. Bordeaux; they were both quiet but more than capable of protecting each of them. More importantly, they both never introduced themselves as their bodyguards as they seemed to camouflage themselves from the eyes of the other kids.

But even if Zoe left a voicemail, there was no way she would have time to wait for Dinah to get back, because William didn't have time to waste. He could be in serious trouble because of his powers, and he didn't have the luxury of waiting for someone to come and save him.

Wait.

"Come on, Zoe." She told herself. "Pull yourself together." Tying her hair back in a ponytail, she marched her way to the boys' bathroom, with her father's wise words ringing in her ears.

"If you want something done, you've got to do it yourself because no one else is going to do it for you."

* * *

William was no damsel in distress. He had already figured out that his powers came from the Particle Accelerator Explosion and that they consisted of canceling out his molecular density, which rendered him completely weightless. Well, half weightless, on account of the part of his body that wasn't entirely wedged into the floor.

Nevertheless, if it was his powers that sunk him into the floor, then it was his brain that was going to pull him out of it.

He didn't have too much upper body strength, but he did have his favorite red and white jacket, which he swung on the coat hook on the door and used to pull himself up from the floor.

It seemed to work; his legs were coming out of the tiles until he accidentally phased his foot through them again and brought his jacket down with him. He let out a snarl of frustration that the Something had bested him again.

"William?" He heard Zoe's voice. "Are you ok?"

"Uh…" He looked down at where his knees should be. "I'm fine. Just need to…" He flung the jacket on the door again. "Pull me together, that's all." He nearly succeeded in getting his foot out until it sunk back into the floor. "Fuck!"

"Will, if this is getting out of control, you should get out of here while you still can," Zoe said from the opposite side of the door.

"What?" William asked her.

"All I'm saying, William!" She spoke loudly, almost shouting. "Is that you should go home if you're feeling **really** sick!" She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Pretend to be sick."

"Wha…" He thought about it for a moment before his brain clicked on what she was saying to him. "Oh! I get it!"

"But first, you should probably calm down," said Zoe. "I may not have powers, but remember what happened in _Frozen_? Don't fight it, accept it. I'll be outside if you need me."

William dragged his hand across his face, more frustrated than he was before.

Accept it? How was he supposed to accept any of this? He was supposed to be a normal kid for crying out loud! Not some freak who couldn't be any _**less**_ of one! None of this was making any sense to him. He had spent almost a year trying to be as ordinary as humanly possible. He did everything right; he was the good student, the perfect son, and he **still** ended up as a freak! Perhaps he had always been one and had never been acknowledged of it until now.

Even so, how would complaining solve anything? The answer was, it wouldn't. He was the teenage son of the Green Arrow who had suddenly had superpowers, so he might as well square with it already.

"Don't fight it. Accept it." Zoe had said.

Closing his eyes, William relaxed until he reached inside himself far enough to come across the Something, that was lying in wait. It was cold, strange, and yet completely and utterly **him.**

He reached towards it, allowing the mist to come over his hand and wash over it, but as soon as he did, it felt like a cool spring in a hot desert. It appeared the Something wanted to be accepted by William just as he felt he needed to be accepted by others.

He didn't fully understand the presence inside him, but he felt an odd sense of peace as if he was greeting an old friend for the first time in years.

Although he did not fully understand it, he saw no purpose in fighting the Something inside him then. If it was a part of him, then he might as well square with it while he still could.

He breathed in and exhaled, repeating the process a few times as the Something flowed within his entire being. He could feel the air he was absorbing reach his molecules, pulling them apart while keeping them close together at the same time.

As the strange silvery-white presence enveloped his foot, he raised it out of the floor, and it never sank back in.

No doubt these strange powers would take some time to learn about, but there was still a question to hold in regard with the boy:

What other capabilities did he possess?

* * *

**Excerpt from a questioning proceeding the Clayton Investigation:**

_**Joe West:** _ _Will you state your name for the record, please?_

 _**Robert Sykes:** _ _Agent Robert Sykes._

 _**Joe West:** _ _And I understand that you were assigned by Lyla Michaels to watch over William Clayton and Zoe Ramirez during their school hours?_

 _**Robert Sykes:** _ _Yes, I have, along with Sasha Bordeaux._

 _**Joe West:** _ _Getting back to the 15th of May, you saw William coming out of the bathroom. Can you describe to me what he looked like then?_

 _**Robert Sykes:** _ _Well, he was pale and sweaty, not unlike kids I've seen who've suffered nervous breakdowns._

 _**Joe West:** _ _Did you ask if he had suffered a nervous breakdown?_

 _**Robert Sykes:** _ _Well, he looked like he had been through something pretty awful, but I had a hunch that if I pressed into it, he might have slid back into something like it. That's when the nurse came around and asked for William to come down to her office. She said that Zoe had told her everything that had happened._

 _**Joe West:** _ _And where was Zoe Ramirez at this time?_

 _**Robert Sykes:** _ _She was back in her math class, being watched by Agent Bordeaux._

 _**Joe West:** _ _Did you walk William down to the nurse's office?_

 _**Robert Sykes:** _ _Yes._

 _**Joe West:** _ _According to school records, Quentin Lance signed William out that day. Why wasn't it Oliver Queen or Felicity Smoak?_

 _**Robert Sykes:** _ _Well, I called them, and they were busy recovering from a recent attack by some of Diaz's men. Mayor Lance was the emergency contact for both of the children at the time, so I called him then._

 _**Joe West:** _ _I understand that you drove in front of Mayor Lance and William on the way home at this time, yes?"_

 _**Robert Sykes:** _ _Yes, that was the case. Agent Bordeaux stayed to watch Zoe for the remainder of the school day._

 _**Joe West:** _ _That'll be all._

 _**Robert Sykes:** _ _Detective West, can I ask you a question?_

 _**Joe West:** _ _Well, this interview is over anyway, so you might as well ask anything you want._

 _**Robert Sykes:** _ _Thank you. If this is a Star City case, how come Central City is looking into this?_

 _**Joe West:** _ _I'm afraid it's not just CCPD getting involved in this investigation. It's also the FBI, the CIA, National Homeland Security, and Star Labs, which includes the Flash along with his associates._

 _**Robert Sykes:** _ _It must be a pretty big investigation if those kinds of reinforcements are being called in for a case about a couple of kids._

 _**Joe West:** _ _Indeed it is, Agent Sykes, but believe me, after everything that's happened, Star City is going to need all the help that they can get._

* * *

Being the mayor had its perks for Quentin Lance. Having a security guard drive a limousine, just happened to be one of them. He could manage his work without having to deal with the ever-infuriating traffic of Star City or the sounds of maddening road rage from the cars surrounding him. But for now, he had someone who needed his undivided attention this very moment.

Over the time William had lived in Star City, Quentin had been the one to pick him up after school nearly every day, so it was no surprise that they had become close. At one point while they were getting ice cream, William had accidentally called Quentin his grandpa. Although he apologized for his slip of the tongue, William could not have known how happy he had made Quentin that day.

William had known his maternal grandparents for most of his life, but he never asked about his paternal grandparents. He had looked up the Queens shortly after Samantha's death, and he found that his own family was more complicated than he could have imagined. His grandfather, Robert, who was still a bit of a mystery to William, was heavily involved in suspicious activities, most of which remained unclear to the press. On the other hand, Moira, his grandmother, along with someone named Malcolm Merlyn, was responsible for the death of over 500 people in the Glades a few years ago.

It sickened him to think that being a criminal was, in a way, in his blood. William often wondered what it would have been like to have met Robert and Moira Queen, but each time he did, he would always end up picturing a situation that was more awkward than the last. Maybe, one day when he was older, he would get to know his father's late parents better than the tabloids ever did.

Quentin, on the other hand, was the kind of grandfather William could rely on without any doubts. He was the person William could talk to about learning to live with his long-lost father whenever Raisa or Felicity wasn't around. He was sarcastic, dry, but an incredibly good listener who gave equally incredible advice any time that William needed it. He also happened to be a well-trained detective, so it was almost too easy for Quentin to spot that his surrogate grandson was being troubled by something.

"So, are you going to tell me what's on your mind, or am I going to have to call your parents?"

William looked around the limousine, rubbing his thumb and forefinger together. "What do you mean?"

Quentin raised an eyebrow at his grandson. "Come on, Will. You think my girls didn't pull the same pretending-to-be sick trick? It's not like you to miss school, so what's up?"

"Um…" He rubbed his fingers again. "It's complicated."

"Why is that?" asked Quentin. "Something happen at school?"

"No," William said too quickly. "Yes." He cleared his throat. "Sort of."

"Well, did something happen, or didn't it?" Quentin asked him again only to be met with silence from the preteen in front of him. "Alright, look, I'm not going to tell anyone if you don't want me to, but if you don't let me know me what's going on, then I'm going to have to start assuming that you're playing hooky for no good reason. So come on, out with it."

William let out an exasperated sigh, combing his fingers through his chocolate brown locks. He knew his grandpa knew a million different ways of getting information out of somebody's head. Besides, he knew his grandpa could keep a secret, and if William was being honest with himself, then he would know that he would explode if he kept his feelings inside.

"Grandpa?" He asked him quietly. "Say that I discovered a certain…" For some reason, he couldn't get the word out of his own mouth. "talent that I didn't even know I had." He recoiled at his hesitancy to say what he really wanted to. "Something the other kids can't do."

It seemed Quentin understood what he was trying to say. He rubbed his chin in forethought before asking, "You mean a talent as in what Dinah Drake can do?"

"Not exactly," William replied honestly. "But yeah, something like that. I discovered it in the bathroom, and it quickly got out of hand. I had some help handling it today, but what happens if I can't control it next time? What if I can't **ever** control it?"

"You know if you keep worrying about the negative, it's just going to come true, right? Quentin asked. Noticing the fallen look on William's face, he leaned in and gently held his hand, as if he wanted to tell William that everything would be ok. "Listen, kid, I went through the same thing at your age."

"Uh, not exactly -"

"I meant figuring yourself out." Quentin clarified for him. " I know it's a lot to go through a million things at once, especially when you're a teenager, but **that** is exactly the reason why you're starting to grow into the person you're going to be. I don't have that kind of talent to know who exactly that will be, but I know that just having **a** talent or any talent doesn't make you as different as you'd like to think. It's what you use that talent for that really counts. And William, the only way to learn how to do that, is by making mistakes, like what happened today."

William thought about it for a moment before he looked at his surrogate grandfather once more. "So, you want me to do what I can do, but you want me to make mistakes too?"

Quentin just gave a nonchalant shrug in his shoulders. "I didn't say whether or not to use it, but yes, make mistakes, screw up, fall on your face if you have to. In fact, I want you to make as many mistakes as you can right now. Not incredibly stupid ones, of course, but just tiny little ones. And yes, you literally have my permission to do just that. Not too many people will say that to you, so take this as something that you're going to remember for the rest of your life."

The limousine came to a halt in front of the apartment building, where several ARGUS agents were guarding it. Mr. Sykes had opened the door, and William was already out.

"Thanks, Grandpa." He said to him. "I mean, seriously. Thanks for the advice you gave me."

"Of course," Quentin said. "But one more thing; It takes guts to admit when you're wrong, but real courage is understanding why. If you let that sink in, I won't tell your parents about today. Deal?" He stuck out his hand, which William enthusiastically accepted.

"Deal!"

"Alright," Quentin said with a smile on his face. "See you around kiddo. And remember, don't leave the house until Raisa gets here."

"I won't," William said to him before the limousine door was shut by Mr. Sykes as the young pre-teen made his way into his apartment building.

Once they were inside the apartment, Mr. Sykes excused himself so he could use the restroom, which gave William the perfect opportunity to walk into his room, grab out his phone and type the following into Google,

_Top websites on metahuman abilities_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Young Boy in Critical Condition following Star Labs Incident (Mason Bridge, Central City Picture News, 2013)** _

_After what seemed the juxtaposition of the century, where innovation slowed down progress instead of moving it forward, over two dozen people are being hospitalized for injuries resulting from the Star Labs Particle Accelerator Explosion. Amongst these people now, is a seven-year-old boy, who on behalf of his mother's request, remains anonymous throughout this article. The boy and his mother were returning home from a school-held science fair at Central City Elementary, hoping to avoid the impending storm. Unfortunately for them as well the entire student body along with their families was trapped inside a colossal amount of traffic relating to the Particle Accelerator that afternoon. Hours later, the boy and his mother finally arrived home safely, when the storm began to cause damage to the suburban neighborhoods in Central City. According to neighbors, the mother-son duo had just parked in the driveway and was heading inside, when the boy suddenly became caught in live wires, which caused him to lose his footing, and fall into the street, Moments later, he was suddenly run over by a skidding car. Fortunately, the boy survived completely intact but remains in critical condition in the same coma patient ward as CSI investigator, Barry Allen._

_Both the mother and Star Labs founder/director, Harrison Wells, could not be reached for comment._

* * *

According to his mother, William had awoken from his coma a month after the explosion and was discharged the following week. However, despite Samantha filling her son on what happened, he never attained any memory of that night ever since it happened.

It was safe to say that William had already deduced what happened to him as the gears in his mind continued to work out any other theories in case he missed a certain detail that would explain why he could change his molecular structure and density as well as why they had come now and not when he left the hospital all those years ago.

He sat in his room that night after explaining his "sickness" in school to his parents. He hated lying to them, of course, after all the effort they were putting together to remain an open and honest family. But then again, was that merely a fantasy the Smoak-Queens were trying to achieve or a pointless escape from the jumbled and twisted family history that had led them all together at the same dining table that night?

However, as odd and different his family might have been, William couldn't even bring himself to say the word "powers" for some reason. Perhaps it was the fact that he was still struggling to accept them, even after only a few hours, or it was due to his incinerating emotions conflicting with his whispering thoughts that urged him to expect a frightened reaction from his parents, who were already scared enough of losing their city to a psychopath on a loose cannon.

In time, they would soon learn that he was hiding something; Oliver Queen and Felicity Smoak were not blind after all, but if there was one thing that William was good at, it was concealing his emotions. It was just the tip of the iceberg of how much the boy had to learn about the night he received his powers – he did not know of Eobard Thawne's hand in creating the Flash at the time - so it was going to be difficult to "come out" to his father and stepmother, especially if he had no idea what to say first.

No. William would **not** allow himself to be corrupted by fear. He was his father's son, surely his father would not be afraid to face this situation firsthand, and certainly not without a plan first.

And that was exactly why he needed at least five hours of a good night's sleep, so he could continue looking into the situation with a calm and collected level head, just as his father would if he were faced with circumstances such as this.

* * *

_Oliver Queen sat in his cell looking at the mirror in front of him and drew a thin line with his lips. He rubbed his hand where he sported a bruise from his recent stint in solitary confinement, but he brushed it aside at the memory of his beloved photo, which was essentially the only thing keeping him from losing his mind to the walls of Slabside, save for recent events of course._

_There were no newspapers or pictures of his son's secret actives within his cell. Most of the inmates had heard of the infamous blue-haired vigilante roaming around the streets of Star City by now, but from the moment Oliver had learned of his son's secret identity, he had personally made sure that his cell was completely free of any trace of anything that would give away anything about his son's vigilante pursuits, which meant destroying the cherished photograph of his wife and son in case one of the members of Danny Brickwell's gang decided to come snooping around, or worse, one of the prison guards who wouldn't hesitate to report Oliver Queen for information about the Blue Shadow while they conducted cell block checks every other day._

_He rose from his bed and would have left for the outside court for some fresh air if Ben Turner, also known as Bronze Tiger, was not standing by his cell with a knowing look on his face._

_Oliver's fingers began to clench into a fist. "What do you want, Turner?"_

_The mountain of a man gave a mere nonchalant gesture. "Nothing this time. I was just on my way to the mess hall when I saw you in here. Now I may not be a mind reader, but I think I know exactly what's got you all screwed up here." He tapped his head while Oliver turned to face his enemy with contempt in his icy blue eyes. "It's your boy ain't it? What was it again? Wi-"_

_Oliver's calloused hands had already grabbed Turner by the throat and slammed him against the wall, while he ignored the security guards taking him off the other man._

" _Hey, I only came to give you a message about your boy. It's not good news or bad news but it's something about him."_

_He breathed hotly at the mention of his son from his adversary and almost wrestled his way from the guards when one of them struck a couple of Tasers on his side, causing him to fall to the ground. "You stay the hell away from my son!"_

" _Solitary confinement for you, 4587." One of the guards snarled before the rest dragged him away to the solitary confinement cells, leaving Turner by his lonely self._

_The imprisoned criminal rubbed the lines on his forehead and cast a disappointed look at the concrete floor beneath him._

" _That went well." He muttered with dissatisfaction in his voice._

* * *

**From the Transcript of the Zoe Ramirez Tapes:**

_**John Diggle:** _ _So, you and William Clayton. Friends until the end?_

 _**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _Not exactly. I mean we were close, but we didn't know each other long enough to become BFFs for life._

 _**John Diggle:** _ _I see. Getting back to the 15_ _th_ _of May, when was the next time you saw William?_

 _**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _I didn't see him until the following morning. When we were at school during first-period gym class._

 _**John Diggle:** _ _I see. Do you remember what time that was?_

 _Z_ _**oe Ramirez:** _ _Around 8:15 AM._

 _**John Diggle:** _ _Do you know what William was doing before then?_

 _**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _I don't know. Getting ready for school or whatever. I guess that William was doing what any kid would have done if they got superpowers: Learn how they work while messing around with them a little._

* * *

**WARNING: CLASSIFIED INFORMATION PRESENT UNDER ARGUS PROTECTION. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO OPEN THIS FILE WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM DIRECTOR LYLA MICHEALS**

_**From** _ **Feeling the Blue: A Complete Examination on the Case of William Clayton** _**by Ralph Dibney (pg. 2)** _

_**Published via Star Labs, April 2, 2028** _

_To understand what happened to William Clayton, we must first take a look at how William Clayton came to be._

_Oliver Jonas Queen was born on May 16, 1985, to Robert and Moira Queen in Starling City General Hospital, Starling City, Washington State. He was raised in vast fortune and wealth and would welcome his maternal half-sister, Mia Dearden Queen on January 21, 1995. As he grew up into adulthood, Oliver Queen became a familiar face in the tabloids for disreputable incidents, such as punching a reporter on live television at one point during his late teens. Even more so, despite having a girlfriend, Dinah Laurel Lance, who would soon become the second Black Canary and Assistant District Attorney, Oliver Queen was not only a notorious womanizer but also an equally infamous college dropout and party man. By the time his 20_ _th_ _birthday came around, Oliver had already withdrawn from Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford University within a short span of two years. This profoundly irresponsible and narcissistic behavior would eventually rear its head when Oliver Queen would meet a girl from Central City at a college party in 2005._

 _Samantha Anna Clayton was born on February 20_ _th_ _, 1983, to Frank and Irene Clayton in Central City Hospital in Central City, Missouri. Samantha, in contrast to Oliver Queen, had come from in a middle-class family while taking an active interest in dance and volleyball as well as volunteering at the local hospital during her time in high school. Graduating as the valedictorian of her class Central City High School in 2001, Samantha would spend the next few years of her life pursuing a degree in economics at Central City University. During her junior year, she befriended Laurel Lance on MySpace and the two kept in touch for quite some time. In June of 2005, she was invited to spend a few weeks with her before returning to Central City. One day, Laurel, Samantha was invited to spend the weekend with Laurel, and she agreed, leaving for Laurel's apartment that Thursday. The following day, on Friday the 13_ _th_ _, Samantha and Laurel spent some time with some of Laurel's friends at a bar before they were both invited to a local party at Starling City University. While Laurel left for her house to study for an exam the following Monday, Samantha went with the small clique to the party where she encountered Oliver Queen, and the two began engaging in conversation over an unknown amount of drinks. According to Oliver, the two were holding hands, heading into a private bathroom and neither of them left that bathroom until about 12 hours later, with some of their clothes missing. After the party, Samantha had traveled back to Central City and cut off all contact with Laurel, possibly hoping to spare her friend the pain of knowing that her close friend had slept with her boyfriend behind her back._

_Nine months later, William Joeseph Clayton was born in Central City Hospital on February 13, 2006, at 2:08 PM. Although he was initially aware of the unplanned pregnancy and believed Samantha had suffered a miscarriage, thanks to a bit of convincing from his mother, Oliver Queen would learn of his son's existence approximately 9 years later in Jitters, a local café popular to the Central City community._

* * *

William got up at around 6 AM on the morning of May 16th. He had finished his morning routine of brushing and flossing his teeth four times in a row (dental hygiene was extremely important to him) as well as applying shampoo to his hair before he turned off the shower and applied zit cream on his cheeks, forehead, and nose.

Once he was dressed in a yellow and bright blue plaid shirt over a cotton white one, along with blue jeans and black converse sneakers, William opened his laptop and pulled up all the articles he found on metahuman abilities and the Flash.

He grabbed his pillow and stuck his arm through it, blue eyes widening in awe of the proof of the impossible happening before him. Yet for all of his late-night research and all of the experimenting he did with his powers, William could not figure out what the strange silvery-gray mist that surrounded his arm was. He deduced that it was probably an effect his powers had whenever he used them, similar to what people described as a trail of lightning following the Flash whenever he ran around the streets of Central City.

Whatever it was, a part of William wondered if the Something lurking within him was like a muscle, one that he could exercise and use in due time once he had practice in learning how to control it.

While this analogy may have been true, there was another side effect that irritated William to no end: nosebleeds. He pulled his arm from the pillow and wiped his nose with a tissue before throwing it out.

Whenever he stayed invisible for too long or kept phasing through something heavy, or also for too long, his nose would start bleeding.

Perhaps it was a reminder that despite the power he possessed, William was still mortal, but whatever the cause of it might be, suffering from nosebleeds from exerting his powers was a circumstance that he would have to get used to if he was going to learn more about the Something inside of him.

"William?" Felicity knocked on the door and William's body flickered back to visibility.

"Come in." He looked at the clock and realized that he lost track of time from contemplating the events from today.

Felicity walked into the room with an exhausted look in her bright blue eyes but kept her sunny disposition with her bright clothes and pink lipstick. Her frazzled hair did nothing to distract William from the optimistic aura she gave whenever she walked into a room. "I just wanted to tell you that breakfast is almost ready and your father has to go to an important meeting so you might want to catch him before he leaves."

After careful consideration, William decided that today would not be the day he would tell them about his powers, but he knew that day would come soon. So, he figured it would be better to wait for his father to save the city and bring the bad guy known as Ricardo Diaz to justice before the Smoak-Queens would have a chance to be a real family without having to fear for their lives each time they go to sleep.

It seemed like a naïve thought, even to William's watchful perception of his father and step-mother being vigilantes themselves, the Green Arrow and Overwatch, but even he could see how much pressure they were under to find Ricardo Diaz and take him down along with his evil plan.

He figured it was better if their focus was in one place rather than be split in between taking down Ricardo Diaz and taking care of their son.

He had finished breakfast when his father was about to leave the door.

"Dad?"

"Yes, William?"

"You'll stop him, right?" William asked. "Ricardo Diaz?"

Oliver gave his son a reassuring look and his fingers scraped the silver door handle on the way out.

"Yes. We will. By tomorrow morning, I hope, so keep your eyes open, alright?" He said while ruffling his son's chocolate brown locks. "I have to go to a meeting with someone who can help make that possible, but we'll talk again tomorrow, ok?"

"Ok." William nodded as his father left the apartment that morning, feeling hope blossom in his heart, a feeling he had not had in a long time. He didn't know what would happen within the next twenty-four hours, but by this time tomorrow, William would have a chance to be even closer with the family he had nearly lost time and again.

Unfortunately for William, the next morning would nothing short of a nightmare come to life.


	4. Chapter 4

**From the Transcript of the Zoe Ramirez Tapes:**

_**John Diggle:** _ _Do you remember the morning of May 16th_ _, 2018?_

 _**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _Yes. I remember what happened then. Though I wish I had my phone out then._

 _**John Diggle:** _ _Why? Did something happen?_

 _**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _Kind of._

 _**John Diggle:** _ _What do you mean by that remark? Did William get hurt? Did you get hurt?_

 _**Z** _ _**oe Ramirez:** _ _No, neither of us got hurt. I mean at first, we were just talking, playing basketball, and then we just got to messing around, that's all._

 _**John Diggle:** _ _I see. And what exactly do you mean by, quote, unquote, messing around?_

* * *

The class filled their spots with sluggish velocity as the gym teacher took attendance that morning. The day was just like any other, with the spring morning running in as fast as the trees grew outside. The flowers bloomed with graceful beauty and the bright sun illuminating the fields did nothing to sway the lethargic attitudes of the sixth graders who wanted nothing more than to go back home and spend all day within the safe comfort of their beds.

"Alright, if it helps any of you guys." Coach Parr said to them. "I don't wanna be up this early either, but I've got a job to be here and so do you. And no, being here doesn't involve taking selfies for Instagram or anything remotely like that."

There was a collective groan upon the entire class as Coach Parr motioned for the students to stand up as he picked up the basketball next to him.

"One of the most important assets you can have in any sport is concentration. As long as your focus is on the ball, literally speaking in this case," He said while dribbling the ball to make his point. "You'll find that you can push yourself to feats you thought you couldn't achieve before. Now before you phone-lovers doze off because I'm talking too much, I want everybody to pair up and start dribbling to each other and then shooting the ball as much as you can."

He blew the whistle and all twenty-six students immediately followed into groups like it was second nature. Within seconds, al anyone could hear from the outside, was the sound of running shoes and large basketballs hitting the pavement in a staccato rhythm

"I guess, nothing much has changed, right?" William asked Zoe as he passed the ball to her.

"If you say so." Zoe practiced a few dribbles before passing the ball to her friend. "But I'm not sure if you're talking about things in general or the reason you had to go home yesterday." She looked around to make sure no eavesdroppers were looking for the latest juicy news for middle school. "If it's the former," She passed the ball to William who simply blinked at her. "How are you feeling now? Ok, not ok, or somewhere in the middle?"

"Um," William drummed his long fingers on the ball nervously. "I guess I'm ok, but if I have to be honest, I'm kind of in the middle, in terms of getting my head around it."

He dribbled the ball up to the hoop, shot the ball, but missed it when it slid off the metal hoop. Fetching the ball, he passed it on to Zoe.

"Ok, that's fair." She shot the ball into a hoop, this time with a perfect shot, thanks to her concentration being laser-like during the moment. "Then be sure to use it. Problem solved." She gave a knowing smirk, knowing full well that William had something else on mind. "But that's not what's on your mind now, is it?" William rubbed his thumb and forefinger together.

"I don't know, Z." He dribbled the ball a few times before passing it back to her. "I mean, it only happened yesterday, but do you think I should do something with it?"

She dribbled the ball a few times more. "Who says you have to do anything at all?" She passed the ball back to him. "I mean, what else has changed since you went home?" William gave a nonchalant shrug with his shoulders as he missed his shot into the hoops again.

He walked closer to her and passed the ball to her. They both held the ball together. "Nothing actually. If I'm being honest, I've only scratched the surface with my powers." His voice was low enough for only her to hear.

"You mean, you know what you can do?" She asked him.

"Not exactly, Zo." He said. "I'm not entirely sure what's happening to me, but whatever it is, there's a lot to think about."

"And I'm going to stop you right there." Zoe pushed his hands down along with the ball. "That's what's bothering you, Will. You worry too much. So how about you put your big brain on pause, have fun, and then come back to it later. You know, before gravity brings your skull down with it?"

William was about to open his mouth to give a small retort, but he knew there was no point arguing. She was his friend and knew him probably better than he ever knew himself, despite being friends for less than a year. Zoe Ramirez wasn't always right, of course, but William knew without a doubt, that she knew what she was talking about when she told him to cut loose for just a little bit.

So, he walked up about 3 feet away from the basketball hoop, shot the ball, and nailed the score with tremendous accuracy.

"You know what?" He asked Zoe. "I guess I am overthinking this. Maybe nothing much has changed if I'm still the same person I was yesterday." She smiled, knowing that her best friend was close to regaining his confidence once more. "And even if for some reason, I do end up using them, what's the worst that could happen?"

* * *

_Both Ralph Dibney and Barry Allen waited anxiously as Dinah Drake pulled into the reserved parking lot that was near the endless parade of black SUVs, each belonging to several law enforcement agencies as well as Channel 52 News and local radio stations._

_Her bright green eyes were puffy and bloodshot from a reduced amount of sleep during the past two weeks and her luscious mahogany hair was now a tangled bush of poorly maintained frizz._

" _We're here." Dinah brushed a tangled lock from her hair. "If you had a big breakfast, you might want to keep an eye on keeping it down if you can."_

" _I wouldn't count on it." Barry gripped his briefcase, already used to bloody and gruesome crime scenes._

" _Alright, let's go." Ralph opened the door and walked out of Dinah's car, with the Flash and Black Canary behind the Elongated Man._

_They walked up to security, flashed their badges and were granted immediate access to the ruins of what was left of the Star City Police Headquarters._

" _What the-" Barry gaped at the sight in front of him, nearly dropping his briefcase, which carried his forensic investigation equipment. The proud building that once stood to protect the law of Star City, was now destroyed under piles of rubble and rock. Streaks of red gleamed under the sun, where pieces of human flesh remained trapped under the rubble. Investigators carried what looked like disembodied human hands and feet into small containers. Reporters were discussing the horrendous ruin of the Star City Police Headquarters, but they could only cover what little they were able to obtain from the law enforcement agencies surrounding the area._

" _What the hell happened here?" Ralph finally found his voice._

" _The press is calling it the Star City Disaster," Dinah told them in a collective manner. "But I prefer to think of it as the night all shit hit the fan. 68 people died, even the ones who were rushed to the hospital. 46 of them lost their limbs. A few of them made it out unscathed, but even Rene's in critical condition."_

" _And you're saying all of this happened in under five minutes?" Ralph asked her._

" _It's kind of hard to guess," said Dinah. "Everything that night exploded into one clusterfuck after another. But it all happened so fast, no one could tell what was happening, not even if we were paying attention to the clock that night." She looked at both men wearingly and stepped about ten feet backward to gain more range onto the entire pile of ruins. Her Central City friends followed her same suit. "That's why we called Central City for help if you're wondering. It's also why Felicity ended up in the ICU as well. We found ourselves caught up in something we couldn't even begin to describe. But look around, see for yourself; this was Star City Police Headquarters."_

" _What's with the big empty square in the middle back there?" Ralph pointed to a big metal square in the pile of rubble that had was surrounded by broken pieces of stone and broken glass._

" _That's where my office used to be."_

" _If only I had gotten here sooner." Barry shook his head._

" _Don't go blaming yourself now," said Dinah. "We know how short-staffed you guys were that night. As far excuses go, being trapped in another dimension for a whole month by an interdimensional criminal alien while trying to rescue both Cisco and Caitlin, is a pretty damn good one."_

" _Actually, I think he was an annoying witch boy," said Ralph. "I have yet to be let in on the details, but you get the picture."_

" _Yeah, I can," Dinah said to him. "But speaking of a_ _picture, have you guys found anything on William?"_

" _No. We've been looking everywhere we can, but we've got nothing so far," said Barry. "We've called in everyone who's available, but it's like he disappeared off the face of the Earth. And yes, we've been looking on other Earths too, and we still haven't been able to find a trace of him whatsoever. Dinah, I'm so-."_

" _I swear, Barry if you say 'sorry', I'm going to knock some sense into you."_

" _Literally or figuratively speaking?" Ralph asked nervously._

_Dinah gave a sweet but sarcastic smile. "That depends on whether or not he says the word, but we're getting off-topic in our investigation."_

" _Right, I'll go see if I can pick up anything that might help us." Ralph and Dinah gave a silent wish of good luck to Barry as he left with his forensic equipment at the ready._

" _How's the overall investigation coming along?" Ralph asked Dinah._

" _We're slow, but Zoe's cooperating really well." She said. "She's doing all she can to help us."_

" _I guess so, given the circumstances we have here," Ralph said to her, pondering deep into his Private Investigator's mind._

" _What do you mean by that?" Dinah asked him._

" _I just have this feeling that there's more to this than we think," Ralph said to her. "Like there's another side of the story that we haven't found because we're not looking in the right places."_

" _How is that?" Dinah asked him in an investigatory manner._

" _I don't know, but there's something just that's not adding up," Ralph said to her. "The last place William Clayton was ever seen or at least heard of was at Cambridge Academy in Boston, but that was over six months ago."_

" _And?" Dinah asked._

" _And we've recently discovered that he dropped out just so he could do some cross-country trip all the way to Star City." Ralph continued. "So, if he came back here to finish his dad's mission and save this city from the bad guys by his lonesome self, what led him to just come here all of a sudden?"_

_Dinah pursed her lips, scrambling her detective-trained mind for any possible answer, but found none at the moment._

" _That seems to be the question now, doesn't it?"_

* * *

 _**From** _ **Feeling the Blue: A Complete Examination on the Case of William Clayton** _**by Ralph Dibney (pg. 5)** _

_**Published via Star Labs, April 2, 2028** _

_Zoe_ _P_ _á_ _ssaro Ramirez was born on April 7, 2006, in Star City General Hospital at 11:59 AM to Rene Ramirez and Laura P_ _á_ _ssaro, who changed her name upon their marriage in 2003._

_Life was stable for the family until the US financial recession of 2008, made its way to Washington State, causing the family to move to the Glades, where Rene Ramirez originated from, after losing their apartment in Star City. This sudden blow caused both husband and wife a great deal of financial strain, which exceeded to the point wherein early 2009, they were forced to rely on food stamps to be able to afford meals for the entire family. Around this time, Laura began taking heroin to deal with the stress, despite both the efforts of husband and wife to keep their marriage from falling apart for their daughter's sake._

_According to Zoe, when she was interviewed about this in 2026, she was unaware of the vast majority of their arguments, but she did know that both of her parents were not getting along, and that was to the extent of her knowledge, thanks to Rene's increased presence in her life since then._

_Rene's insistent efforts to be a strong parental influence proved to be successful as teachers from Zoe's school would say that she was a diligent worker and by all accounts, just a very outgoing, friendly, and bubbly girl._

_After a couple of years of drug abuse, tumultuous arguments, and a few months at a rehabilitation center, Laura finally went cold turkey from her heroin addiction and had cleaned herself up in 2012. By then, both Rene and Laura had finally gotten back on their feet and moved out of the Glades to the local downtown area in Star City, where they were able to start over together. Unfortunately, the happy family life would not last too long as on March 29_ _th_ _, 2016, Rene had discovered a small bag of heroin, taped behind one of his wife's dresser drawers._

_According to Rene, who was also interviewed about this in 2026, it is unclear how long it had been since his wife had relapsed. From the amount that was discovered, it appeared that Laura had been taking heroin for quite some time, but whether it had been weeks or even months, remains unknown to this day. Following Rene's confrontation and what almost spawned into another argument, Rene took his daughter out to a hockey game while Laura stayed home. Approximately two and a half hours later, both father and daughter returned home to find Laura being held hostage by her drug dealer, Aaron McLean. Rene would later testify that McLean had come to collect Laura's debt of $500 for her recent supply of heroin. Moments later, a fight broke out between the two men, which resulted in Rene shooting McLean in an effort to save his wife._

_According to Zoe, who was nine years old at the time, as she walked near the kitchen, where the fight took place, she witnessed McLean falling down as the gun in his hand discharged right where he knocked Laura to the ground during the struggle._

_Laura Ramirez's autopsy would later show that the bullet traveled through her temporal lobe, killing her instantly._

_One month after the incident, Zoe was taken into foster care, after an incident where Rene passed out intoxicated from alcohol, and Zoe burned her hand from a running stove that was left unsupervised. A year later, Zoe was reunited with her father after he regained full parental rights to her guardianship._

_Since 2016, Laura's death had served as the catalyst for Rene's decision to take on his mantle as the vigilante known as WildDog along with Zoe's decision to voluntarily testify on William Clayton's behalf, following the infamous Star City Disaster in March of 2019._

_In a strange coincidence, on the other hand, as of 2016, Zoe's birthday is exactly 12 hours after the death of Earth-1 Laurel Lance._

* * *

Once the coach decided that it was time for the class to move on with their basketball exercises, William suddenly adopted a devious look in his cobalt blue eyes.

"Wait here." He whispered to Zoe. "And make sure you're recording this." Before Zoe could ask what, he meant, she saw William run to the coach and ask to be excused to use the bathroom.

"Alright but don't take forever." Coach Parr said to him. As William took off, he flashed a thumbs-up to Zoe as he went inside the building.

"What's the deal with your weird-ass friend over there?" Karen Beecher, a classmate of both Zoe and William.

"He's not weird, he's just a heavy-planner." Zoe responded to which the young girl replied, "Mmm-hm!"

Coach Parr blew the whistle, bringing forth the attention of everyone sitting on the blacktop surface of the outside court. The sun was still bright in the morning sky and by then, some of the kids had started to finally wake up, while others were silently begging to get back to blissful and powerful sleep.

"You've all had practice with each other, now I want you to see how well you all work together." Coach Parr went to the small bag and pulled out a pile of white pinnies. "This is how it's gonna work, we'll divide into two teams. One of which will wear the pinnies while the other will not. Then we'll run a few rounds to see how far each of you can apply coordination with teamwork. Once we run these trials, maybe I'll think of holding a small game for the class on Friday. And I'm talking about the real deal, not just practice in gym class." He reached to the ground to pick up the basketball that was near him when he found the ball moving away from him. He reached to pick it up again when it rolled away from him again, this time, by its own will.

Some of the students began to snigger at the perplexed look on Coach Parr's face. He seemed to take note of this reaction and put on a reassuring smile, similar to Brad Pitt's on the red carpet.

"No need to take out your phones." He said to them. "I'm pretty sure it's just the wind."

That may have been true for a second, but after the ball suddenly began levitating off the ground, the middle-aged man was at a loss for words. Unsure of what else to do, he lunged for the ball, but the invisible person holding it was quick enough to avoid his meaty hands. Suddenly, the ball began dribbling by itself all over the court as the coach began to chase after it like how a toddler would chase after an ice-cream truck.

"Get back here you little-!"

The students' laughter drowned out Coach Parr's last word. Some of them had even begun recording a live stream on Instagram for the whole school to see.

At one point the invisible person must have become bored with long-distance runs, so he started running around in circles, while the coach began sweating up a storm chasing after the ball that apparently had developed a mind of its own.

Finally, the invisible person began running to a mud hole outside of the blacktop pavement court with the coach running after him while the ball continued to float in the air, this time darting back and forth as if to say to the older man, "Catch me if you can."

There had been a downpour last night so the mud lake that had replaced the ditch outside of the court was fresh, wet, and smelly.

The ball stopped for a moment, giving the coach a sense of victory as he leaped forward to grab it but it was short-lived as the ball quickly moved out of the way, which caused the coach's momentum to send him face-planting into the mud lake.

While the students continue laughing in high-pitched giggles, the ball kept dribbling itself across the court while the coach, whose upper body was almost completely covered in brown sludge, continued to run after the ball, screaming his head off, while the children continued to laugh and film the whole incident with their cell phones.

The coach continued to run as fast as he could while being slowed by the mud that was already saturated in his baggy clothes.

Once the ball had launched itself into the hoop, the invisible person caught it and walked up to the fuming coach. The ball seemed frozen mid-air until it was lowered slowly into his hands.

"Whoever is behind this, is getting a one-way ticket to detention! And that's **my** detention!" Coach Parr shouted with steam coming out of his ears like a train whistle. The students were still laughing at him as they hurried off to change from their gym clothes before the class bell rang.

The students all filed into the building while Coach Parr was left furiously grumbling to himself about rotten kids while wiping the streaks of mud from his face as he threw the basketball down on the rocky pavement below.

"I swear I don't get paid enough for this bullshit."

* * *

Zoe and William ran out of the gymnasium, laughing their heads off as they ran into an empty choir room.

"Did you see the look on his face?!" William laughed while Zoe wiped tears from her eyes. "Get back here you little brat!" He spoke in a gravelly voice but had to cough afterward to clear his throat. "Get back here or I'm gonna keep waddling after you! ARRRRGGGHHHHH!"

Zoe laughed, holding onto the piano for support. "That's actually a pretty good impression! But how come you didn't include witty banter?"

"Witty banter?" William asked her after catching his breath.

"Yeah," said Zoe. "You know how Spider-Man, Deadpool, and Danny Phantom, they all use jokes and insults to annoy their opponents and get the last laugh? How come you didn't do anything like that?"

William adjusted the backpack straps on his shoulders. "One, I don't have a sense of humor. Two, even if I did have a sense of humor, I was too busy being high on adrenaline to use it. And three, even if the last two parts did apply, don't you think the coach would have recognized my voice by now?"

"Yeah, you've got a good point." Zoe nodded in an agreeable manner. "But you're wrong about one thing."

"And what is that?" William asked.

"You **do** have a sense of humor." She said to him.

"No, I don't," William said to her. "You have no proof."

"You once referred to Ms. Schenker as a living dodo bird," Zoe said to him.

"That's because she always yells, even while we're taking a test." William retorted to her. "And when she does, it sounds like she's squawking."

"You said that the boy's locker room smells like garbage that went to the garbage and then took a shit the next day," Zoe said to him.

"It's actually worse than people make it out to be," said William.

"And let's not forget the time you so gloriously compared your own dad to Leonardo DiCaprio," said Zoe.

"No.," said William. "I just said that my dad **looks** like Leo DiCaprio if Leo DiCaprio never learned how to shave. And I only said that because he looks like that in the **morning**."

Zoe gave a disgruntled headshake at him. "And?"

"And." William drummed his fingers on the music sheet stand. "Now that I think about it, he looks like that even **after** he shaves."

Zoe laughed, giving William a high five, just as the warning bell rang.

"Crap, we gotta get to our next class! Come on! Let's go, Z!"

* * *

**From the Transcript of the Zoe Ramirez Tapes:**

_**John Diggle:** _ _So let me see if I got this right: William discovers he has the ability to walk through solid matter and become invisible at will and the first thing you two decide to do with them is to use them for childish pranks and practical jokes?_

 _**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _Well, we didn't go overboard with the pranks, if that's what you're thinking. But other than that, yeah, that's pretty much what happened._

 _**John Diggle:** _ _Somehow, that doesn't even surprise me. But getting back to the events of May 16_ _th_ _, what happened after first period?_

 _**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _The day went on as normal._

* * *

William walked into the hallway, where Zoe was changing her books. He leaned against her locker and tapped on the metal door, "Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits."

"Yes? Who is it?" She pretended to not know who was talking to her, but it was a game that they often played together, and it never got old between them.

William cleared his throat and spoke. "What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?"

Zoe looked up, pretending not to know what he was talking about, but it was all part of the game. "What do you mean? African or European swallow?"

William tilted his head sideways. "I don't know that."

The two preteens looked at each other and threw their hands backward, yelling: "Ahhh!" before laughing at their own antics from their own game.

"School's almost out," Zoe said. "You think we can go to our place later on?"

"I think Agents Sykes and Bordeaux will let us," William said to us. "But I have to pick up some schoolwork before so, I might be a little late."

Zoe mock gasped. "That would be absolutely, totally, and in all other ways, inconceivable!"

William looked at her as if she had grown two heads. "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

Zoe rolled her eyes as she closed her locker, and the two walked down to their next class. "Alright, but don't think I'm going to go easy on you this time."

William laughed. "Z, you couldn't beat my high score even if you tried! Usual stakes?"

"Challenge accepted!" Zoe said. "Though I don't get my allowance until next week and I blew it on ice cream this week!"

"It's ok, there's always the school cafeteria so you can buy me pizza then," William said to her. "But either way, you know the rules."

"Yes, yes, yes," Zoe said to him. "No cheating, no bribery, and no puppy dog eyes allowed at any time." Her large brown eyes began to form the technique of adorableness she had perfected from when she was old enough to coo. She had her signature pout ready when William put his hand over her eyes.

"Nice try, but I've come to resist." He poked Zoe back as the children laughed, holding each other as they both strolled down the hallway, side by side, locking one arm with another.

* * *

**From the Transcript of the Zoe Ramirez Tapes:**

_**John Diggle:** According to Agents Sykes and Bordeaux, you two often hung out at the local arcade - Danny's Arcade, right?_

_**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _Yes, that's where we met. It was "our place"._

 _**John Diggle:** _ _Alright. Following that school day on the 16th, you were pulled into an ARGUS bunker along with William and my son, yes?_

 _**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _Yes, that's right._

 _**John Diggle:** _ _You are aware that your parents were out with the FBI fighting Ricardo Diaz under terms of an agreement Oliver Queen had made with the FBI that morning_ _, yes?_

 _**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _Yes, I am aware of that._

 _**John Diggle:** _ _Getting down to the night while you were watched by Agents Sykes and Bordeaux, what happened that night?_

 _**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _We had dinner. They made us Mac N Cheese. JJ made a mess, and William helped clean it up. And we watched movies with the TV they had set up in there. But we were all scared. JJ for his parents, me for my dad, especially when he called me. JJ was crying because he was scared his mom and dad wouldn't come home but as soon as William and I popped in Finding Nemo, he seemed to calm down._

 _**John Diggle:** _ _And what did your dad say, when he called you?_

 _**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _He told me how much he loved me, but it sounded like he was saying goodbye. I remember I also started to cry when I hung up the phone_

 _**John Diggle:** _ _And what did William do?_

 _**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _He hugged me, told me everything was going to be ok, that our parents would save the day. He must have had his doubts like he usually did, but for my sake and for JJ's especially, he kept things optimistic. He then put in Toy Story after Finding Nemo, because it was one of my favorite movies to watch with my mom when she was alive. For the rest of the night, we had ice cream, we told stories, William did a few magic tricks or just small little tricks with his powers for JJ, and we watched movies until we all fell asleep in one big pile of pillows. Nowadays I look back and I see that, except for JJ, that was the last time we knew any innocence whatsoever._

* * *

On the morning of May 17th, William got up feeling completely fine. It was only when he checked his clock for the time that he realized what today was: The anniversary of his mother's death.

One year earlier today, when William was eleven years old, he and his mother, Samantha, had been taken prisoner by a murderous psychopath named Adrian Chase who called himself Prometheus. He was also known as the Throwing Star Killer as well as one of Oliver Queen's greatest archenemies.

Although William was not aware of his father's identity or of his father's family at the time, it was Oliver Queen who had revealed himself to his son when he saved his life. However, the Throwing Star Killer preferred to be ten steps ahead of his enemies, so he had planted highly destructive bombs all over Lian Yu, a nearly inhospitable island in the North China Sea. Oliver's team of vigilantes, all of whom had been taken hostage as well, had succeeded in warding off Chase's army, but even Oliver himself could not stop Chase from enacting on the final phase of his plan, which was to activate the dead-man switch linked to the massive amount of bombs on the island, by killing himself in front of his father.

The explosion killed most of Talia Al Ghul's army along with Evelyn Sharp, but William didn't know any of this. He only knew that his Aunt Thea had been put into a coma and that his mother had died from severe head trauma and massive internal bleeding and damage.

It had been one year, but for William, his mother's death felt like yesterday. Sometimes he would wake up at night, screaming for his mother to not leave him. Sometimes he would wake up completely silent in a cold sweat and spend the next two hours checking his closet, wondering if the monster known as Adrian Chase had come back to torment him once more.

Snapping out of his momentary daze, William shook off the covers and got ready for the day, as if it were another.

He was looking forward to school today, and even he was surprised by that. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he would see Zoe again. It would make sense since she too had lost her mother to murder, although she was a little younger than he was. Nonetheless, they had been through similar experiences, similar tragedies, which was how both children were able to bond so well.

So, he knew that although today was going to be difficult, he would have to get through it somehow and he was going to do it with the support and help of his friends.

He looked in the bathroom mirror, wiped a stray tear away, and gave a sad smile at himself, a moderate attempt of getting himself motivated to go to school.

* * *

By 9:30 AM, the English Literature class was already in full swing. The class had already paired up for their group projects, but unfortunately, because one of their classmates was out sick, there was a group of three for the project discussion: William Clayton, Zoe Ramirez, and Cissie King-Jones.

The class was buzzing with chatter, each group discussing how they should divulge into the book of their choice if they had chosen any books at all. Otherwise, they had already begun sharing a PowerPoint on their Google Drive hardware. Nothing could distract these children from their mindless chatter except for when Agents Sykes and Bordeaux briefly spoke with their teacher and asked Zoe along with William to step out into the hallway because there was something important both needed to know.

"William, Zoe?" Their teacher Ms. Kelly approached their desk and spoke to them. "You're needed in the hallway."

Begrudgingly, the two children left their desks and were separated by each ARGUS agent. Agent Bordeaux pulled Zoe aside to explain what the next few months of her life would be like. Agent Sykes, on the other hand, pulled William as far as the end of the corridor, right down to where the main office was.

"William." The older man said to the young teenager. "There's no easy way to say this, other than this will be a lot to take in, so I suggest you brace yourself for what's coming."

"What do you mean what's coming?" William asked. "What's going on here?"

"Look, believe me when I say that all of this will come as a shock for you." He said. "But maybe it's best if she explains it."

He opened the door and motioned for someone to come out and sure enough, Felicity Smoak hurried out of the administrator's office.

"William." She threw her arms around her stepson and her watery blue eyes gazed at William's own through her tear-rimmed glasses. "Oh, you're ok! You're ok! I am so sorry, William."

"Felicity?" He asked his stepmother. "Are you ok? What's going on?"

"It's Quentin." She said to him. "He passed away this morning." William's breath was suddenly caught in his throat. "He got hurt pretty bad and they did everything they could to save him."

William lunged forward in Felicity's arms, as a fresh stream of tears began to drip down his face.

"I'm so sorry, I know how close both of you were." She rubbed William's shoulders and allowed him to cry for several more minutes before delivering the next piece of bad news. "But William, there's something else you need to know. It's your father."

The twelve-year old's back stiffened as he pulled himself away from Felicity's grasp. His shiny blue eyes were silent, yet they asked if the unthinkable had come true.

"No, he's not dead and he's not hurt either," Felicity spoke to him, and he let out a small breath he didn't realize he had been holding, but the feeling of relief lasted only for a second.

"He's going to prison, William. Your father is going to prison for a very long time."


	5. Chapter 5

**WARNING: CLASSIFIED INFORMATION PRESENT UNDER ARGUS PROTECTION. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO OPEN THIS FILE WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM DIRECTOR LYLA MICHEALS**

_**From** _ **Feeling the Blue: A Complete Examination on the Case of William Clayton** _**by Ralph Dibney (pg. 8)** _

_**Published via Star Labs, April 2, 2028** _

_On the morning of May 16th, 2018 Oliver Queen drove to one of the offices of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. To be able to apprehend notorious gangster, Ricardo Diaz, also known as Richard Dragon, Oliver Queen was forced to turn to Special FBI Agent, Samanda Watson, who had been investigating the Green Arrow's identity following a fake photo that had been leaked to Channel 52 news around October of 2017._

_When he asked her for her help in apprehending Ricardo Diaz, he was then signed a deal that guaranteed immunity for everyone within the Green Arrow's circle, except for the Green Arrow himself._

_Although both the FBI and vigilantes were not able to apprehend Diaz that night, they did however, manage to arrest all the corrupt Star City government officials on the criminal's payroll. Unfortunately, this success did not sway the agreement between Agent Watson and Oliver Queen one bit as he was arrested the following day._

_As part of the agreement, the FBI would remain stationed in Star City, using their resources to protect the city and continue their search for Ricardo Diaz until he was taken into full custody if Oliver Queen agreed to turn himself in as the Green Arrow. In addition, all vigilantes in Star City, both active and nonactive, would be given full immunity from all charges in exchange for their permeant retirement from their vigilante careers._

_While the adults were placed under federal probation, nothing was ever said or could have been predicted about the children._

* * *

Walls. That was all William could see. Sheets and tapestries of marble draped in a single lifeless color were all the twelve-year-old had for some camaraderie. No matter how hard he tried, or how far he looked, every corner, and every window, would be closed off by another set of ice-cold toffee walls. But he wasn't scared. He was confused, more so than he had ever been this past year. No one would give him a straight answer, not even Felicity when he asked her what had happened.

"I think it would be best if your dad explained it to you." She said to him while holding back tears on the drive from school.

His stepmother's answer made even less sense to him. After all, the judge had thrown out his father's case during his trial. Afterward, he and his stepmother joined ARGUS and the police to apprehend Ricardo Diaz.

But what if something had gone wrong last night? To William, it might have been possible that the police had made some sort of assumption and then arrested his father. Perhaps that's what all of this was; one big misunderstanding. Then when he would see his father, he would tell William that the issue was resolved and that he could go home like he always seemed to do.

Of course, the Something inside of William gave him the feeling that things would be much different this time. Slowly but surely, the staccato rhythm of his own heart caused both of his hands and arms to become invisible. Fortunately, he was quick enough to notice, so he shoved his arms behind his back until he calmed himself down before anyone saw what was happening to him.

"No, no, no." He begged while keeping his eyelids closed. "Please not now."

The Something intensified for a moment as an aura of white mist just began to manifest around his entire being. It remained like that until William was in control again, and there were no signs of the shimmering aura or disappearing limbs.

"William." Felicity stepped in front of him and kneeled to reach his level. "Your dad's ready to talk to you."

The boy rose from the bench and walked towards the interrogation room. His feet shuffled across the floor in a zombie-like trance as he kept his eyes on his father, who was sitting handcuffed to the table. Just seeing this picture alone, diminished any and all traces of hope inside of William, that things would go back to normal.

"Hey, buddy." He said to his son as if nothing was going to be separating them for what could have been many years.

"I don't understand." It was all he could say. "What's happening?"

Oliver took William's unblemished hands underneath his own calloused palms.

"I'm going to explain everything to you."

* * *

_Ben Turner walked down the mess hall to the right-hand corridor where the solitary confinement units were stationed. He walked past a guard who flipped him off, and Turner returned with a sneer behind his back._

_He walked up to Solitary Confinement Unit 3A and opened the window slot._

_Oliver Queen, also is known as Inmate 4587, was doing diamond push-ups until he saw the slot open on the door of his confinement cell. Once he saw who his unexpected guest was, he wasted no time marching towards the older man._

" _If you so much as-"_

" _Save your breath, Queen." Turner stopped him. "I'm only here to deliver you a message from Lyla. Now this time, are you willing to listen to me or not?"_

_Oliver looked at him for a minute with scorn, remembering that when the fellow inmate had approached him, he had somehow learned of William's name, leading Oliver to assume that he had something to do with his son's disappearance. However, Oliver knew better than to hold on to that assumption, especially with the mounting circumstances at hand; his only child was missing, and who was to say what state he would return if he were to even be found at all? Nevertheless, if Oliver was going to have any chance of finding out about his son's whereabouts, he needed to accept that despite their history, Turner had only one intention at the moment, and that was to pass along a message from his friend._

_But if Oliver sensed any sort of bullshit in whatever Turner said about William, he would not hesitate to use any other means to pluck out the truth from him._

" _What did she tell you?"_

" _It's about the search for your kid. " Turner said to him. "Everyone your friends can reach out to, they've already contacted. Every resource and string they can pull, they're pulling it to bring him home. They haven't found any trace of him so far, but they're putting in every fucking inch that they've got to find your boy, or at least to find out what had happened to him."_

_Oliver nodded, fully understanding the dedication and effort his friends were making to find his son._

" _Before you ask, Lyla came here a couple of days ago to tell you all of this, but you were in solitary at the time," Turner said to him. "I had just finished talking with my ex-wife when she waved for me to come over and asked me to give you her message."_

" _Why would Lyla trust_ _ **you**_ _of all people with that information?" Oliver asked him._

" _After I saved Lyla during that mission in Markovia back in 2014, she repaid me by allowing me to spend one day with my son. It was my son's 10th birthday party, so that day meant everything to me. When she asked me to do one last little favor for her, I said I would owe nothing to her after that, and she agreed that as soon as I gave this message to you, we'd be square."_

_Oliver understood him. "Thank you for that information." But Ben Turner didn't leave. He wasn't finished yet._

" _One more thing." He said. "From one father to another, don't waste your time focusing on the what-ifs or the what-if-nots and all that shit that's running through your head right now. What you can do, to have a middle ground that you can stand on, is have hope. I know it doesn't sound like a lot of help, but from my experience, the best thing you can do is to keep a level head, as long as you can, while also having a little bit of hope. You know, for the sake of not completely losing it."_

_Oliver agreed silently. "I'll keep that in mind."_

_The door slot closed, and Oliver was left alone with walls of desolate concrete slab that remained his only company within the confinement cell_ _._

* * *

**Excerpt from a questioning proceeding the Clayton Investigation:**

_**Joe West:** _ _Will you state your name for the record, please?_

_**Samanda Watson:** _ _Agent Samanda Watson_

_**Joe West:** _ _According to our records, you were the agent who escorted Oliver Queen to the press conference after the brief meeting he had with his wife and child on the morning of May 17th?_

_**Samanda Watson:** _ _Absolutely._

_**Joe West:** _ _Did anything happen as you did?_

_**Samanda Watson:** _ _I'm not sure what you mean._

_**Joe West:** _ _I mean, did anyone say or do anything as you left the interrogation room that morning?_

_**Samanda Watson:** _ _Well, I was on my way out when Oliver's boy came walking up to us. For a moment, I thought he was going to say something to his father, but he said something to me instead._

_**Joe West:** _ _I see. And what did he say to you?_

_**Samanda Watson:** _ _Only one word: Why?_

_**Joe West:** _ _And what did you say to him?_

_**Samanda Watson:** _ _Nothing._

_**Joe West:** _ _Looking back on it now, do you think that William's answer could have been answered?_

_**Samanda Watson:** _ _I'm sure you of all people would understand Detective, that my job is very demanding and takes up a tremendous amount of my time. I figured it would have been better to leave it up to his guardian to explain it to him._

_**Joe West:** _ _I see._

* * *

**From the Transcript of the Zoe Ramirez Tapes:**

_**John Diggle:** _ _Where and when was the last time you spoke with William before he went into hiding?_

_**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _I think it was around 10:30ish, about the time William's dad was unmasking his Green Arrow persona in front of the whole world. My dad was with me at the precinct then._

* * *

The doors of the then-vacant office on the second floor opened wide up, Agent Bordeaux and Zoe filling in as quickly as they could. Zoe glanced around worriedly, having already been briefed on Oliver Queen's prison sentence, however, have no idea where her best friend was.

"Zoe." A familiar voice called out to her. Zoe's father, Rene Ramirez, walked in with a few scrapes on his forehead, but they did nothing to distract the warmth in his smile when he saw his daughter.

"Daddy!" She ran up and was enveloped in his burly arms.

"Hey, Peanut." He kissed her forehead and rubbed her quivering shoulders. "How are you doing?"

"Dad, what's going on?" She asked. "Why are they saying that William and I are being split up?"

Rene knelt in front of his daughter and held both of her hands. "Peanut, listen. You know that William's dad is outside telling the world that he's the Green Arrow, right?"

"Right." She nodded.

"So, unfortunately, that means a lot of attention is going to be put on his family from now on," Rene said to her. "And it's a lot of attention from very bad people who won't hesitate to hurt William for simple payback on his dad. The only way to ensure that will not happen, and I hope to God that it won't, is for William and his mom to go into the Witness Protection Program. It's kind of like what happened when CPS took custody of you, only it's a lot more secure and secret. Which means William can't contact you at all. No texting, no phone calls, not even a postcard."

"Why does William's dad need to out himself though?" Zoe asked. "I mean, isn't the point of a secret identity is to, you know, keep it a secret?"

Rene chuckled. "Yeah, Zoe, that's the idea. Unfortunately, today, things just aren't that simple." Zoe raised an eyebrow at her father, who quickly realized the expression that was taking form on her face. "Hey, before you give me the Look, I want you to know that none of this is up to me, so there's not much I can do to change it. If I could, I would volunteer to take care of William and move out of this city if it meant keeping you two from being apart, but right now, it is what it is, Peanut."

Zoe looked at her shoes in a dejected manner, as she took in the severity of the terrible situation upon them. "So even though I can't keep you two from being separated," Rene walked to the door. "I did, however, manage to get an opportunity for you to say goodbye to William. The problem is, I was only able to scrape a few minutes, so both of you will have to make it quick. Ok?"

Zoe nodded at him. "Ok."

Rene opened the door along with Agent Bordeaux, and her best friend came running to where she was. The door closed, leaving the preteens alone together.

"Are you ok?" William asked her.

How can you even ask me that right now?" Zoe asked. "I mean, you're being shipped off to the middle of nowhere, but you have to ask if **I'm** ok?" William twisted his thumb and forefinger together, unsure of how to answer her. "Alright, we don't have much time, so does anyone have anything they want to say?"

"Ok," William said. "I lick all the frosting off the Oreos but never eat the actual cookies."

"Ok, my turn," said Zoe. "I, uh, always lose my erasers in school and have to constantly keep borrowing other peoples'." A long awkward silence came surrounding the two 6th graders. "This isn't working, is it?"

"Nope," said William. "Thanks for trying, Z."

William turned towards the window and planted his hands onto it, resigning into submission from the weight he carried on his shoulders.

Zoe walked up to him and placed a hand on one of his hunched shoulders. "Did they say anything about where you were going?"

"Nope."

"Did they tell you how long you were going to stay there?" Zoe asked him quietly.

"Nope."

"Even so, are you planning on telling your stepmom about your, you know…" It only took William a second to figure out what she was referring to.

"Yes." He replied while turning away from the window and crossed his arms sternly. However, suddenly, he began to twist his thumb and forefinger together, which was a habit that was common for those who knew William best, that acted out whenever the boy was extremely apprehensive about something. "No." His aforementioned fingers continued to fight amongst themselves. "I don't fucking know, Zoe. All of this, it's too much to think about right now." He ran his hands through his chocolate brown hair whilst leaning against the window.

"Say no more." Zoe leaned against the window as well, crossing her arms just as William had done moments before. "I don't know if foster care is the same as going under federal protection, but I know what it's like to be separated from your family, and not have a say about any of it. It's not going to be easy to handle, not for a long time anyway. The best advice I can give you, is to try to find a way to make the best out of the situation that works only for you."

Before William could ask her how she did that, the doors swung open, and Agent Bordeaux came in with Rene.

"Ok." She said. "Time to go."

"Please, just a couple more minutes?" William asked.

"Let's go." One of the adults said.

The children pulled themselves into each other's' arms, and would not let go of each other, so Rene had to pull Zoe away from William, and Agent Bordeaux had to pull William away from Zoe. They both fought to be free from the tight grasp of the adults, but they couldn't be free from the arms of steel.

They both kicked and screamed, the sound of their pleas bouncing off the rigid stone walls. The further the kids were separated from each other, the louder they begged their parents to not to take them away. Soon enough, however, William was in the van with no windows to show his face, and Zoe was left in the precinct, staining her father's jacket with her salty tears, but Rene didn't mind. He stroked his daughter's shoulder-length hair, allowing Zoe to hold onto him as he gave a silent goodbye to through the window both Felicity and her stepson as the windowless vehicle drove away until it completely vanished out of sight.

* * *

_**From** _ **Feeling the Blue: A Complete Examination on the Case of William Clayton** _**by Ralph Dibney (pg. 10)** _

_**Published via Star Labs, April 2, 2028** _

_As per the restrictions of the Witness Protection Program to ensure their safety, both parents of William Clayton, and Zoe Ramirez were not allowed to arrange any form of communication for their children under any circumstances whatsoever._

_Following that morning, Zoe continued to stay in Star City, while William had to start anew in a location, that aside from the identities mentioned here, is one of the reasons why this case study remains hidden under secure ARGUS confidentiality._

_For the next four months, both William and Felicity lived under new identities at the sleepy suburbs of Hope Springs California, a small junction, just about two hours south of Los Angeles._

_Although testimony from Felicity Smoak, supported by evidence collected by a small team of private investigators, confirms that William Clayton had full intentions to live out a civilian life, one question had puzzled officials during the initial investigation: Did William Clayton plan to become a vigilante or was this a career he was forced to choose?_


	6. Chapter 6

_While Ralph Dibney was looking over his notes from the wreckage of the Star City Police Headquarters, Sara Lance looked within the pages of the initial report. Her blue eyes glazed over the contents of the paper, looking for something new that would give her a lead in the search for William._

_Her fingers danced over the papers in the folder as she pushed another yawn down into her stomach. She hadn't slept in nearly two days, but this was a battle she was used to fighting. She usually won through the sheer power of her will, as well as the occasional double shot of espresso._

_She closed the folder and was about to pick up her phone for any updates when the door opened, and Lyla Micheals entered the room._

" _Sara, Ralph." She told them. "They're here."_

_Sara nodded. "Alright, Lyla. Thanks."_

_Ralph set his notes down on the metal table and adjusted the strap on his wristwatch._

_Two people came into the room, both of whom had seen better days. Sara gave the brunette a warm hug before embracing the sandy-haired man next to her._

" _We got here as soon as we could." The Queen said to her. "Unfortunately, the Thanatos Guild has a tendency to not let things go."_

_"It's a long story," Roy said to a gaping Ralph._

" _It's ok," Sara told them. "It took these guys a while before they could reach me too. Aside from that, I want you guys to meet one of the guys helping out. Ralph, this is Thea and Roy. Thea and Roy, meet Ralph Dibney."_

_He flashed his CCPD badge and then shook hands with the couple. "Long version, Ralph Dibney, Private Investigator, and as you may have seen the news, Elongated Man."_

" _Sorry, don't know who that is," Roy said to him._

_Ralph spluttered, appalled by such a statement after growing used to his newfound fame through his secret identity._

" _I-"_

" _Ralph." Sara scolded him._

" _I know, I know, strictly business," Ralph said to her. "But I gotta be honest, it kind of hurts to hear it said out loud."_

_Thea chuckled. "Well, if it helps Ralph, we know who you are now."_

" _You know, I wish we were meeting under better circumstances," Roy said to both women. "But Sara," He turned to face his old friend. "Is it true? Just tell us, is any of it true?"_

_Sara pulled out a computer and pulled up a recording from a while ago. "I wish I could say it wasn't, but…"_

_She played the recording, which was footage from a CCTV camera of a small vigilante clad in black clothing. He was using a tanto blade with each hand to block the weapons of his attackers. For a momentary glance, the small fighter was utterly unrecognizable in the video._

" _You've gotta be kidding me." Roy breathed. "_ _ **That's**_ _William?"_

" _The last time I saw him, he was just a kid who wanted to good in school." Thea looked at the security footage carefully. "What happened?"_

" _I don't know," Ralph said seriously. "But the answer's hiding somewhere."_

_Sara placed a hand on Thea's shoulder and radiated an aura of understanding towards the distraught woman._

" _It's a lot to stomach in, I know," Sara told her. "I mean, I still can't believe it either, and I came back from the dead!"_

" _Guess our standard of the impossible is just too far for us to reach, isn't it?"_

" _I know that's right." Roy looked over the evidence bin. "What have we got in here?"_

" _Just some evidence we've collected," Ralph replied. "I mean, we've got a few leads, but we haven't been able to find anything that will give us something new to look at. One of our friends is investigating one of those leads as we speak."_

_Roy looked into the bin, where each piece of evidence was carefully sealed in a plastic bag for ensuring protection against any contamination._

_He skimmed through bag after bag, each containing different items. From pieces of clothing, weapons, photographs, cell phones, earpieces, copies of forged documents, and dozens of witness reports which were collected from across the United States within the past ten months._

_Roy's fingers ran through the evidence bin until they stopped once they reached a small clear plastic pouch. He pulled it out, and his breath hitched once he saw what was inside of it._

" _Thea?" Roy called for his girlfriend, who was talking to both Ralph and Sara. "You might want to see this piece."_

_Thea walked over and inspected the small object through the protective seal of the parcel._

_And there it was, resting in front of a folded sheet of paper: The Hōzen. It was a tiny arrowhead-shaped rock with Japanese calligraphy on it. There was a brown leather string inserted through the small clasp to give it the complete function of a necklace._

" _I haven't seen this since I gave it to Felicity." Thea absorbed every detail of the small object, allowing nostalgia to face her, wave after wave. "And I heard Felicity passed this on to William." She smiled, brushing her fingers over the plastic wrap._

" _So then, if William's been holding onto it," Roy inspected the parcel up close. "Did he end up losing it or something?"_

_Both Ralph and Sara exchanged a nervous glance with each other before Ralph slipped on a pair of white plastic gloves so as not to disturb the fingerprint evidence collected on the Hōzen._

" _Actually, no." He answered Roy. "And believe me, this is where this case gets…crazier, for lack of a better description."_

" _How crazier can this investigation even get?" Roy asked. "I mean, William's been running around wearing a mask while using his powers. What could possibly be crazier than that?"_

_Ralph blew out an anxious breath as he fished the document from the small pouch. "First, don't say I didn't warn you. And second, we collected this the night William disappeared. It was dangling from the coat pocket of this person."_

_He handed them the unfolded document, and once the couple read it, they were frozen in place, unable to overcome the shock from reading the name featured on the case report._


	7. Chapter 7

The stranger's eyes began to open, but it was only to the sound of a nearby alarm clock. Morning light barely peeked through the closed blinds of the bedroom, illuminating the early hours of a summer's day.

A Samsung Galaxy sat on a nightstand table and read 6:00 AM in large white numbers. To silence the horrible alarm clock, the stranger reached out with a well-built arm and pressed a button on the phone. Pushing the covers off the bed, the stranger walked lethargically towards the windows and opened the windows to let the room air for a little bit. The blinds were pulled up as well, and the stranger hissed as the morning light shot into their eyeballs like a thousand knives.

Walking out into the kitchen, the stranger was still rubbing their eyes furiously. Despite the smell of coffee brewing, the stranger was unleashing a string of expletives on the very concept of waking up early in the morning.

Nevertheless, the stranger drank their coffee, but nothing could have eased the ill-tempered mood that was normal for the stranger to have, even after the morning had passed.

After scrolling on the phone through email and text messages for any suspicious news, the stranger finished their coffee and went to complete a workout routine for maintaining a shape of peak performance.

Once it was complete, it was 7:00, a perfect time before it was time to leave. Stepping into a shower that was in the shape of a large cubicle, the stranger was surrounded by marble walls that resembled the color of maple syrup. The knob was switched on, and soon enough, soap bubbles flowed down to the tile-covered floor gracefully like flower petals in a river. Leaving the water hot, the stranger allowed the steam to spread rapidly within the shower, transforming it into a personal sauna.

When the rinsing portion was done, the stranger stepped out onto the mat and grabbed for the mint green towel near them. Stepping in front of the mirror, the stranger began their morning beauty routine before stepping into the walk-in closet to find an outfit for the day: A black pantsuit with a yellow blouse underneath it. Afterward, a subtle amount of make-up was applied to match the perfect outfit for the day, and the stranger was all set.

Grabbing a bag and checking around the house to see if anything was out of place, the stranger took out their car keys and walked out the front door.

* * *

**_Dinah Laurel Lance_ **

_TheRealLaurelLance_

If only alarm clocks didn't exist…Grrr! But this city's not gonna run by itself!

#workday #StarCity

8:15 A.M – 15 June 2018

* * *

**_Dinah Laurel Lance_ **

_TheRealLaurelLance_

Love a good pick-me-up now and then. Coffee's amazing but nothing beats a cronut!

#Cassidy'sBakedGoods #yummygoodness

8:30 A.M – 15 June 2018

* * *

The woman sat in her office, flipping through seemingly endless in the court document about the Greenburg case after ending a conversation with a client on the phone. She was only so far into work, and the woman already knew that it was going to be another long day in the office.

Day after day, case after case, the work of a district attorney seemed to never end. Nevertheless, it did feel strange for the woman to be on the other side of the desk when she had never had a job before. At least not one the authorities could regard as illegal anyway.

Suddenly, the office telephone buzzed angrily, and the woman pressed on the answer button.

" ** _Ms. Lance_** ," Her secretary answered. " ** _Your 9:30 appointment is here._** "

"Thanks, Etta." The woman hung up and moved from her seat to her office door, where she welcomed her next client after security went through his personal effects.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Rhodes." the woman shook her latest client's hand. "I'm-"

"Oh, I know who you are." Marcus Rhodes shook her hand. "I've heard so much about you."

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Is that right?" Well, Mr. Rhodes, that's simply not possible." She said as she walked towards her desk. "See, you know my name, but that doesn't mean you know me, does it?"

"Right, I see what you mean," Marcus said to her.

The woman coolly flipped through a case document that detailed the case her latest client was involved in and gave the man a coy smile.

"With all due respect, Mr. Rhodes," The woman said to him. "If you did, you wouldn't bother to waste time thinking at all."

* * *

_Roy and Thea stood outside of the hospital room, looking into the ARGUS med bay through a large Plexiglass window that was surrounded by reinforced titanium._

_"So…this is her?" Roy's hand wavered as he gestured towards the patient who was being treated inside the med bay._

_"Why?" Sara asked beside him. "Were you expecting someone else?"_

_"No, no, that's not it," Roy said to her. "Now that we know who had that Hōzen, I just thought we'd finally get some clarity here, but…" His head dropped in his hand as he combed his fingers right through his russet-colored hair._

_"Yeah." Sara nodded sympathetically. "We're left with more questions than answers. Believe me, I know how you feel."_

_"So, how long has she been like this?" Thea asked Sara._

_"Since the night it all happened," Sara replied to her grimly. "As far as we know right now, she could have been the last person who saw William before," Her voice trailed, unsure of how to describe the chaotic night a few weeks ago. "Everything."_

_"This case is more than crazy," Thea said to them. "It's…I don't have a word that can describe this case. Fuck!" She let out a frustrated sigh before calming herself down. "First William, then Zoe, and now her? Who's next?" She gestured to the comatose Earth-2 Dinah Laurel Lance, who was resting inside the secured med bay._


	8. Chapter 8

**From the Transcript of the Zoe Ramirez Tapes:**

_**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _Black Siren, from my experience knowing her, is someone who I would describe as a woman of many faces._

* * *

 **_From_ ** **Feeling the Blue: A Complete Examination on the Case of William Clayton _by Ralph Dibney (pg. 13)_**

**_Published via Star Labs, April 2, 2028_ **

_Mass Murderer. Con Artist. Master Manipulator. Sociopath. Imposter. Sadist. Narcissist. Terrorist. Angel of Destruction. Monster. Black Siren._

_These are just a handful of names that have been associated with this interdimensional criminal. Whispered among the people of Earth-2, the name Black Siren alone has come to personify the phrase, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."_

_Feared by many, known by a few, just who is Earth-2 Dinah Laurel Lance?_

* * *

**_Retrieved from Earth-2 Central City Police Archives_ **

**MOST WANTED BY CENTRAL CITY POLICE**

_CCPD No. 222 509_

**WANTED FOR BURGLARY, GRAND LARCENY, EXTORTION, GRAND THEFT AUTO, DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY, ROBBERY, INSURANCE FRAUD, KIDNAPPING, NONCOMPLIANCE WITH METAHUMAN REGISTRATION ACT, FORGERY, POSSESSION OF ILLEGAL FIREARMS, IDENTITY THEFT, AND MULTIPLE COUNTS OF PREMEDITATED MURDER**

**Name:** _Dinah Laurel Lance_

 **Alias:** _Black Siren_

 **Species:** _Metahuman_

 **Hair Color:** _Blonde_

 **Eye Color:** _Green_

 **Age:** _Late 20's to Mid 30's_

 **Height:** _5'7_

 **Build:** _Slender_

 **Known Associates:** _Zoom, Reverb, King Shark, Dr. Light, Killer Frost, Deathstorm_

**ALL CIVILIANS ARE ENCOURAGED TO IMMEDIATELY REPORT ANY INFORMATION CONCERNING THIS PERSON ALONG WITH ALL AFOREMENTIONED PERSONS TO LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES**

* * *

**_Retrieved from the Central City News Archives of Earth-2_ **

_**Excerpt from issue #86 of The Fishnet Magazine (Published in 2016 via Kanigher and Infantino Publishing Firm).** _

_Black Siren is one of a chosen few whose bark is literally bigger than her bite. Her reputation is operatic; her past, silent. But take away her scream along with her insatiable appetite for chaos, and all that is left is a mysterious woman whose bag is always full of tricks._

_Dinah Laurel Lance, her real name according to an old acquaintance of hers, is someone who has redefined the "femme" in "femme fatale. It has been said by survivors who escaped her wrath that she had lips that would set any man dreaming. She is also known to have quite a bit of class, as proven by her stylish and deadly outfit worn whenever destruction falls upon Central City. On the other hand, despite her predisposition to lure and exploit her victims, my sources within the criminal underworld tell me that she keeps to herself, even among Zoom's ranks. She would socialize, sometimes she would flirt, but she would always mind to herself most of the time._

_As such, most of Black Siren's personal life remains a mystery. Her criminal life, on the other hand, is barely a secret._

* * *

**_Retrieved from the News Archives of Earth-2 Central City_ **

_**Excerpt from The Central City Headline: (Written by Kendra Saunders, Published from Central City News, 2014) pg. 11** _

**NOTORIOUS CRIMINAL STRIKES AGAIN!**

_The Museum of Technological Innovation has fallen into ruin. Security footage shows a blonde woman wearing black leather entering the building through the backdoor. Moments later, a colossal scream was heard echoing the street as the museum collapsed. Following the destruction, CCTV cameras captured the same woman on the parking lot, looking into one of the cameras, before blowing a sonic kiss and destroying it._

_"We were able to identify this person as one of Central City's most wanted suspects, Black Siren." CSI investigator Barry Allen commented. "Based on the evidence at the crime scene, a massive sonic frequency had not only caused tremendous damage to the museum's infostructure but also ruptured the vital organs and central nervous system of the security guard on duty, Renee Montoya."_

_CCPD Captain Iris West-Allen gave this statement on behalf of the entire force at a press conference later on that day._

_"Although theft is a possible motive behind this attack," She said to dozens of reporters. "We have reason to suspect that this is connected to the attacks upon Central City National Bank and STAR Labs, both of which have occurred this past month. CCPD has issued a warrant for Black Siren's arrest and advise anyone with information concerning her present whereabouts to immediately come forward. On behalf of Renee Montoya's family along with the city's community, rest assured that we will not rest until we find Black Siren and make sure that she faces justice for this heartless murder._

_Renee Montoya, 26, is survived by her wife, brother, and two children._

* * *

**_Found within the folds of Laurel Lance's Black Siren suit_ **

**_CERTIFICATION OF BIRTH_ **

**STATE OF WASHINGTON**

**STARLING CITY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL**

**State No: 112586**

**_Name_** : Dinah Laurel Lance

 ** _Date of Birth_** : October 29, 1986

 ** _Father_** : Quentin Lance

 ** _Mother_** **_(Maiden Name)_** : Dinah Song-Kingston

 ** _Weight_** : 7 lbs

 ** _Time of Birth_** : 07:18 AM

* * *

_Thea, Roy, Sara, and Ralph all read through the numerous ARGUS files on Earth-2 Laurel Lance and documents from the aforementioned parallel universe regarding her. Her birth certificate was being authenticated by Harry Wells after her Black Siren suit was discovered in her apartment._

_Roy looked through several more case files, while Ralph responded to a text message from one of the officers at the SCPD station crime scene. Thea was looking through the evidence bin, one recovered item after another. She pawned through them, trying to find anything that would give her some clarity, only to come up entirely short._

_Sara, on the other hand, fished a photo of the woman who wore the face of her deceased sister._

_"It seems you had quite a role to play in this story." She whispered to the photo. "Question is, what role, and why did you play it all?"_


	9. Chapter 9

" _What?" Oliver gaped at the video footage that William's bodyguard, Robert Sykes, was showing the archer through the glass panel on his tablet. "That...that can't be him." It was the same footage that Sara showed Roy._

" _If I could say otherwise, I would, Mr. Queen." Agent Sykes replied honestly. The phone was gripped in his right hand while he held his tablet in his left one._

" _And the knives," Oliver said to the ARGUS agent. "Who gave them to William? Who manufactured them?"_

" _Our experts are analyzing the video, frame by frame," Sykes said to him. "But we're having trouble tracing the manufacturer of those blades." He took his tablet and placed it down on the metal table beneath his battered elbows._

" _But you know who gave them to him, right?" Oliver asked tentatively._

_Sykes gave a hushed confirmation before looking at him, dark brown eyes meeting icy blue. "Better. We know who taught him how to use them: Black Siren." Oliver's eyebrows rocketed to the edge of his hairline. "Black Siren, along with a few other people, trained William to be a vigilante."_

* * *

" _So…" Roy drawled slowly. "Remind me again how a preteen ends up taking sides with a criminal mastermind and vice versa?"_

" _We're working on that lead," Sara responded. "John's questioning Zoe about Laurel's involvement right now. But so far, what we know is all we know."_

" _Fortunately, the investigation doesn't stop there," Ralph said to them. "Dinah finally secured a search warrant for Laurel's apartment yesterday. As we speak, both her and Barry are canvassing the place, trying to find anything that'll tell us where William is. Or at least what happened to him before he disappeared. They ended up discovering Laurel's Black Siren suit instead when they searched her bedroom."_

" _Well, it's better than nothing if we have any chance of finding William," Thea said, flipping through the contents of another ARGUS case file. She looked up to see her boyfriend still looking through the evidence bin before stopping to let an exasperated sigh slip past his lips._

" _What's up, Roy?" She asked him._

" _I know we've got evidence here," Roy said to her. "But I just…" he set the case file on the table with a quick huff. "I find it hard to believe that someone like William had wound up under Evil Laurel's…" He struggled to find the right words that would accurately describe the situation at hand. "Clutches."_

" _Well, knowing her history with Team Arrow, I don't see why any of this should surprise us," Thea said._

" _Thea, we still don't know why she even took William under her wing," Ralph asked. "Even if we did, we can't start making assumptions based on personal history."_

" _You're right," Thea said. "But I feel that we're missing something here."_

" _What do you mean?" Sara asked._

" _I'm not sure." She said. "I just have this feeling that even if we have all the evidence in the world, what if none of it is enough?"_

" _Why do you say that?" Sara curiously asked_

" _Well, there's more than one side to the story, isn't there?" Thea asked. "So, what if Laurel never wakes up to give hers? What if there's no way to ask her why she did what she did?"_

" _We can't think like that." Roy held Thea's hands in his. "Look, we're going to find William, and we're going to find out what happened to him. But unless we find something of Laurel's that can give us some answers, we're just going to have to stick with what we got."_

* * *

**From the Transcript of the Zoe Ramirez Tapes:**

_**John Diggle:** _ _Did you know Earth-2 Laurel Lance?_

_**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _Not as well as William did, but yeah, I knew her._

_**John Diggle:** _ _Can you describe for us what she was like?_

_**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _She was (pause) the most fun-loving, no, the best person to be around actually. She had this charisma, a love of life. I always thought that William was so lucky, having the coolest mentor/babysitter in the world. She was glamorous. Really, that's the word I would use to describe her. Just (pause) glamorous. But (pause) I think there was another side to her._

_**John Diggle:** _ _Did you ever see this other side?_

_**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _No, but (pause) I never saw it, but William described it to me._

_**John Diggle:** _ _What was that other side? Can you be a little more specific?_

_**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _Well, she never showed it to him, but William told me about how she was one of the most frightening people he had ever met. He even said she was much more terrifying than someone who once kidnapped him._

_**John Diggle:** _ _And do you know the name of the person he compared Black Siren to?_

_**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _Yeah, (pause) I think his name was Adrian Chase?_

_**John Diggle:** _ _I see. How well do you think Black Siren treated William?_

_**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _Are you saying that she was abusive towards him? Is that what you just assume?_

_**John Diggle:** _ _I'm asking for any information regarding their interactions together._

_**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _Well, as I said, I didn't know her as long as William did, but I knew her well enough to see how much she cared about him, and trust me, she really did. She was like, the coolest babysitter you could think of. The best friend everyone wished they could have. Sure, she could be strict sometimes, but that was when William would make some dumbass comment or do something incredibly stupid. Overall, William and Laurel made a pretty good team. I mean, they had their differences, of course, but they worked well together in the end. It seemed like when they worked together, they could do just about anything, and I'm not talking about their powers._

_**John Diggle:** _ _Is there any way you can divulge into their relationship a little bit more?_

_**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _As in give an example?_

_**John Diggle:** _ _Yes, an example would be good._

_**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _When William came back to Star City, he got hurt. Pretty badly hurt. She must have felt sorry for him, so Laurel took William to her house, where she helped him get back on his feet – literally as a matter of fact._

_**John Diggle:** _ _I see. Did anything else happen afterward?_

_**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _Yeah. At some point, after she offered William to stay with her, she started training him in basic hand-to-hand combat and how to control his powers._

_**John Diggle:** _ _I see. Did she ever give her reasons as to why she decided to train him? Aside from finding their common enemy, Ricardo Diaz?_

_**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _Uh…(lengthy pause) I…uh…(fingers drumming table)…No._

_**John Diggle:** _ _What do you mean? Did William never tell you?_

_**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _No, he told me most of what happened to him. I once asked William a similar question, and he said that she saw potential in him. Or at least that is what she told him._

_**John Diggle:** _ _Did she tell him anything else?_

_**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _No. I mean, William told me everything that Laurel told him._

_**John Diggle:**_ _Did_ you _ever ask her why?_

_**Zoe Ramirez:** _ _No. Even if I did, she probably wouldn't have told me anyway._

_**John Diggle:** _ _Why do you say that?_

_**Zoe Ramirez:**_ _Because Laurel, although she was bold and outgoing, she was not exactly the most open person in the world. Still, I knew her. And she did so much more than let William live in her house and teach him how to control his powers; she looked after him as if he was a part of her family_ _._

* * *

_Thea Queen walked down the ARGUS medbay down to a specific room that was guarded by security. Once she went through a paper ID check and a biometric check-through, she was allowed inside._

" _How is she?" She asked the doctor on duty._

_"She's doing fine." Dr. Chen-Roberts replied. "Of course, her concussion is still healing up, so I would advise keeping your voice quiet. I'll give you two the room." The doctor left the room, and Thea sat down in the chair next to the patient she had come to see._

_"Hi." Felicity gave a broken smile. Her head was bandaged, and she wore new glasses. They were the same rectangular shape as her previous ones, but they were pink instead of her regular black ones. Apparently, Dinah had gotten them for her after her other pair had broken. "Are you ok?"_

_Thea gaped at her sister-in-law. "Shouldn't I be asking_ you _that question?"_

_Felicity took Thea's hand into her own, her other hand was covered in stitches that reached up to her arm. Her face was still healing from bruises and had been cleaned of dried blood. Thea's eyes drifted to the wheelchair by Felicity's bed._

" _Felicity," Thea's voice wavered as she pointed to the wheelchair. "What happened?"_

_Felicity's blue eyes glistened as she looked downward, remembering the fateful night that changed Star City forever._

_"The night my son…" Felicity suddenly clamped her hand over her mouth to keep herself from screaming as the horrors she witnessed of that night flooded her mind within a single moment. Her shoulders slowly heaved as she forced herself to calm down._

_By now, it had been almost three weeks since that night, but for Felicity, it had felt like it had been three days since it happened._

" _The night William disappeared," She continued. "There was an enormous EMP wave that took out every single electrical device in the city, including my bio-stimulant chip. It's been down ever since."_

_Thea's gulped in her dry throat. "So, does that mean-"_

_"No, it's not broken," Felicity said. "Not totally anyway. Curtis said that my chip will work, but it's going to take a while before it can be rebooted." She looked over to the green wheelchair beside her bed. "So, until then, I'll be using that as my mode of transportation."_

_Thea nodded. "Felicity, I am so sorry I wasn't there. I should have been there when-"_

_"Thea, it's ok." Felicity beamed feebly to her. "There's no way you couldn't have known. Even I didn't know until it was too late. Alright, go ahead, ask me."_

" _Ask you what?" Thea asked._

_Felicity's dried lips curved downward. "What everyone else has been asking me: How could you not know your own son is a vigilante?"_

_"I wasn't going to ask that," Thea said as she continued to wrap her fingers around Felicity's uninjured hand. "I actually came here to give you some news. It's about William." Felicity's ears perked up, but she dared not to move her head. Her breath trembled inside her closed mouth, fearing the worst. "He's alive." Felicity looked at Thea right then. "We don't know exactly where he is, but we know that he's alive."_

_Felicity went perfectly still for a few moments. "How do you know?"_

_"Lyla's put together a team," Thea said. "They're heading down to the safehouse in Hope Springs where you and William lived. They're sending down Roy, Ralph, and an old friend of Lyla's. A detective from Midway City, by the name of Kimberly Rebecki. She also a psychic."_

" _A psychic?" Felicity repeated._

_Thea threw her a skeptical glare. "Don't tell me this comes as a surprise to you."_

_"No," Felicity brushed an eyelash away from her cheek. "I'm just confirming for myself."_

_"Ok," Thea said before her phone began ringing. She paced around the room as she listened to the call. "Yeah?" Her face fell to the floor. "What?" She listened closely. "No, that's-" She stopped in her tracks. "I see." She continued to pay attention to what was being said on the call. "I see." She walked back to where Felicity was. "Alright, I'll tell her, but she's not going to like this."_

_"Who's not going to like what?" Felicity asked. "What's going on here?"_

" _Um…" Thea drummed her fingers on her lap. "That was Lyla. She just called to let me know about the last-minute addition to the team going to Hope Springs. It's one of the other witnesses. One of William's other teachers actually."_

_Felicity frowned at her. "What do you mean? I thought William left boarding school."_

_"He did." Thea clarified. "But apparently Black Siren had to kill two birds with one stone: Keeping William occupied while she worked during the day, and fight Diaz's team with one of her own. In other words, she may have been William's mentor, but aside from Zoe, she wasn't the only one who kept him a secret."_

_Felicity was beside herself. It took her a few minutes to get herself under control and contain her outrage over the news of this building conspiracy_ _._

_"Who else was involved?" Felicity asked._

_"Eric Needham." Thea listed. "Kirk Langstrom," Felicity gaped at Thea. "Yes, it's_ that _Kirk Langstrom, so don't ask. And lastly, there was also-"_

_"Me." A woman's voice with a Canadian accent woven into it rang out. She stepped into the medbay, covered in scratches that were still healing. Two ARGUS security guards were right beside her, making sure she didn't try to run away._

_"You?" Felicity gawked at the person was standing in front of her bed._

_It was Alena Whitlock._


	10. Chapter 10

**_From_ ** **Feeling the Blue: A Complete Examination on the Case of William Clayton _by Ralph Dibney (pg. 40)_**

**_Published via Star Labs, April 2, 2028_ **

_Alena Kacey Whitlock was born and raised in the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on August 6, 1992. For most of her childhood, life seemed pretty stable until her older sister committed suicide in the winter of 2005. A few months later, her parents divorced, and Alena went to live with her father._

_During her years at Templeton Secondary School, she became involved with the world of hacktivism. Eventually, Alena aspired to become one herself after learning of Felicity Smoak's cyber breach of the US Department of Education in 2009. After graduating in the class of 2010, Alena went on to study at the University of British Columbia._

_During her college days, she joined and participated in a student-run hacktivist group that was actually a Canadian branch of the worldwide notorious hacktivist organization, Helix. Once graduating with a degree in Computer Science in 2014, Alena traveled to the United States on a work visa. At the time, she had been recruited by Helix's leader and founder, Cayden James, to pursue an internship at their office branch in Star City._

_Following the end of her internship, Alena became a dual Canadian-US citizen. After settling down in Star City, she continued to work under the mentorship of Cayden James. Eventually, Alena became a skilled hacker known to the digital world as Kojo Sledgehammer and participating in procuring approximately eight petabytes of data from the NSA's information-gathering program ECHELON, in 2016. Helix stored this information in a flash drive, often referring to it by the name of Pandora. Alena used this information as a means to help Felicity Smoak after encountering her idol in 2017 not only to clear John Diggle from his predicament with the military but also to bring Felicity back to her hacktivist days._

_That same week, Felicity accepted her offer to join Helix. For a short while, the hackers worked together until Helix was forced to go into hiding due to Felicity's connection with the Green Arrow becoming a liability._

_Several months afterward, in November of 2017, Alena joined forces with Felicity Smoak again. This time, she asked her former associate to stop Cayden James from enacting a plan that would have resulted in a global casualty of approximately 300 million people._

_Although Alena became an ally to the Green Arrow and his comrades, she was forced to go incognito once the Green Arrow revealed his identity to the world. For a few months, she remained hidden from the public eye until Black Siren, who had already reached out to Erik Needham and Kirk Langstrom by then, tracked her down. Once Alena met the Earth-2 assassin, she was given an offer that could not be dismissed._

* * *

_"I guess you already know who I am." Alena shifted in her shoes uncomfortably. Both Thea and Felicity gave searing-hot glares at the hacktivist, gripping each other's hands so neither would lunge at the woman. They both wanted to unleash a stream of expletives on the woman who played a tremendous role in turning their son and nephew into a weapon._

_Both Thea and Felicity knew better; finding William was far more crucial than losing both of their tempers at this moment._

_They looked at each other, and they silently agreed that once William was found, both of them would have a **nice** and long chat with Alena._

_"What are you doing here?" Thea barely spoke through a set of clenched molars, with her burgundy painted fingernails curling in Felicity's palm._

_"I just came to tell you that we're just getting ready to leave for Hope Springs," Alena told them. "And that we're going to keep you guys updated up to the second. We'll move forward from there to the school and every place William has visited up to the time he came to Star City." Her words did nothing to soothe the silent storm brewing within the minds of the sisters-in-law._

_"What happened to William," Alena continued. "No kid should ever have to go through that. And I can only imagine the kinds of questions you have right now." Felicity was barely able to stop her own body from shaking. "In the meantime," Alena pushed her glasses back towards her face. "Just try to keep an open mind, okay? That's literally the only thing I can say that will help you right now."_

_"Alena?" Roy came knocking at the door. "Time to go."_

_The hacktivist gave a small nod before looking over to her former friend. She opened her mouth to apologize to Felicity, but she knew it was futile. No apology would change the past, nor would it bring William back from wherever he could possibly be._

_Without another word, she walked out of the medbay with Roy, and the door closed behind her._

* * *

_Lyla Micheals switched off her headpiece once she ended giving orders to her agents to continue canvassing specific areas in the city. She sat in her office chair and lifted her mug up to her lips when she realized that she was out of coffee for the second time._

_She walked to the machine near the door when Sara Lance opened it with a few card-sized packets in her hand._

_"Hey, got a second?" Sara asked the woman._

_"Yes, come in." Lyla rubbed the side of her head to ease the migraine from the meeting she had the other day._

_"To be honest, I figured you were a hot chocolate person," Sara said to her. "But I asked John what your drink was, and he said you were a sucker for hot chocolate. So…" She laid out the packets in front of Lyla to her great relief and delight. "I come bearing gifts. It's from your favorite bakery down in Star City."_

_"Thanks, Sara." Lyla poured in hot water and mixed the powder in the cup. "I take it that you've been hitting a wall too?"_

_"You don't know the half of it." Sara chuckled, pouring herself a cup of hot chocolate. "When I got Barry's call, I tried to convince the Time Bureau to let us use the Waverider not only to find out what happened to the woman who looks like my sister, but to also find out where William could be."_

_"Let me guess," Lyla sipped her beverage slowly. "The board wouldn't yield to taking care of personal affairs?" Lyla lifted the hot drink and sipped it slowly._

_"Something like that," Sara replied, taking a sip of her hot chocolate. "I tried everything I could think of, anything that would get some kind of lead, but everywhere I turned, all I got was stonewalled."_

_"Even from Gideon?" Lyla asked._

_"Especially from Gideon," Sara replied. "Ava tried to get some leniency with the Bureau and the rest of the Legends tried backing me up, but as soon as they did, the Time Bureau threatened to confiscate the Waverider if any of us tried to access any information from any time on the matter."_

_"Let me guess," Lyla said. "Time Bureau rules and regulations got in the way?"_

_"Yeah," Sara's fingers clawed against the mug sheepishly. "Technically speaking, the Legends_ can _travel to any point in time, as long as it's for catching anachronisms or you know, preventing the end of the universe. But since this case has neither happening in its own little history, the Bureau wouldn't give an inch. So, I worked out a compromise with the Time Bureau, where I would leave for 2019 on temporary suspension while Ava took over for me as captain. As to when I'll be back, I don't know exactly, but I have no doubt that both the Legends and the Waverider are in good hands while I make sure my real sister's name doesn't get dragged through the mud."_

_"How is Ava doing, by the way?" Lyla asked._

_"She's good," Sara said. "She's doing pretty well, actually. We're talking about the possibility of getting married once this whole case blows over. But enough about me," She set her mug down once more and moved closer to Lyla. "How are you holding up with this case?"_

_Lyla took a glance at the picture of her five-year-old son, JJ Diggle, whose smile became a knife directed towards her heart._

_"You ok?" Sara asked._

_The brunette shook her head and kept her eyes on the photo. "How could this happen? How could any of this happen?"_

_Sara brushed aside a loose strand of hair and grabbed her friend's trembling hands._

_"I don't know," She said to her. "But you can't start thinking that it's somehow your fault. You don't even know the whole story yet."_

_"Perhaps not," Lyla said. "But these were kids, Sara. Our kids. They were both under ARGUS security_ _, which meant I was protecting them. Or at least I was supposed to. And I couldn't even do my fucking job right."_

_"Hey." Sara laid a comforting hand on Lyla's shoulder. "You did your best."_

_Lyla's watery blue eyes bore into Sara's._

_"But what if it wasn't enough?"_

* * *

_Oliver Queen walked across the basketball courtyard with his eagle-like eyes scanning across the field for any potential attackers. However, at the moment, he wasn't too concerned about anyone attacking him. No, he had to find a guard to speak to, someone to use his powers of persuasion on, so he could make at least a phone call to ARGUS - no, maybe two if the first time didn't work._

_He walked up to a guard, whose name tag was spelled, Felton. He was a large burly man with a roadmap of stubble decorating his lower chin. He also had a large amount of gray splattered on both sides of his head._

_Oliver didn't know Felton too well, but he knew that unlike many of the other guards, Felton didn't refer to the inmates by their number, but by their last name only._

_Oliver usually avoided the guards regularly, considering his tumultuous relationship with Officer Yorke. However, at the moment, he couldn't afford to be picky. After all, it had been a few weeks since he had been released from solitary confinement. Not a single piece of news about his son's whereabouts had been brought to his attention since Ben Turner had passed Lyla Micheals' message to him._

_Although Oliver wasn't impatient, he was getting tired of waiting. So he knew that what he was about to ask was a long shot, but it was worth it if it meant finding something new about his son's disappearance._

_"I need to make a phone call." He told Felton._

_"You don't have phone privileges, Queen."_

_"Well, I don't give a fuck about what I have and don't have at the moment." Oliver snarled back. "I need to make a call. Please, is there any way I can make one right now?"_

_"Look, I don't want to have to drag you to the hole if there's trouble around," Felton said. "So to save time, why is it so important right now for you to make a phone call?"_

_Oliver let out a hot breath through his nostrils, realizing that the guard in front of him was not fully aware of what was at stake._

_"It's my son," Oliver confessed. "He's missing, and I'm worried that something may have happened to him." Oliver looked at Felton, who had a sympathetic twinkle in his eyes._

_"I'm afraid you don't have phone privileges, Queen," Felton replied._

_"Please, I need - no, I **have** to make a call" Oliver's knees began to buckle._

_"I am very sorry about your son, Queen," Felton told him. "Unfortunately, even if I wanted to provide you access to a phone, I'm afraid I can't. It's entirely out of my hands."_

_"Felton, I'm losing my fucking mind here," Oliver ran his hand through his shaved head. "I can't eat, I can't sleep, I can't even fucking think straight anymore,"_

_"I understand," Felton said to the former vigilante. "But unfortunately, there's nothing I can do to provide that for you. However, I am sure that your friends are all on it."_

_"No, you don't understand," Oliver pleaded. "My son is in danger. He's the -"_

_Out of the corner of his eye, Oliver saw Ben Turner standing at the corner. He was shaking his head as if indicating to the man that he should not reveal information people could take advantage of._

_Felton, on the other hand, wasn't born yesterday. He turned around to see the robust martial artist staring at the archer, silently threatening him to keep his mouth shut or else. He backed away just by a few inches to get a full view of both of the prisoners at the scene._

_"I'm not sure what your beef is this time," Felton warned the inmates. "But I better not catch you two starting anything, that's all."_

_"Yeah, whatever," Turner agreed as Felton left, but not before the guard gave both men one last eagle-eyed glare at both men before he left them alone._

_"The hell was that?" asked the archer._

_Bronze Tiger turned away from him, not interested in wasting his time trying to figure out what part of "keep your mouth shut" was not understood._

* * *

_Alena's wrists brushed against each other, while her foot tapped impatiently against the car seat. Her glasses rested on the edge of her nose. Normally, she would have preferred to wear her contacts on a busy day especially like this. But she only had as much time as she did to get ready, especially when she was living under strict ARGUS custody and felt as though she had a million pairs of eyes on her, watching her every move, making sure she didn't try to escape._

_Of course, at this moment, that particular set of eyes were actually the hawk-like gaze from one Roy William Harper Jr., Alena's ARGUS-employed "babysitter"._

_"So," Her somewhat nervous voice chimed, hoping to relieve some of the tension. "You like archery?"_

_Roy's steely gaze never wavered, but even he wasn't opposed to a friendly conversation once in a while._

_"Yeah." He replied to the hacktivist. "It's something I do."_

_"As a hobby or for working out?" Alena asked._

_Roy gave a nonchalant shrug with his shoulders. "Both, I guess."_

_The van's wheels screeched on the asphalt ground, letting each of the passengers inside know that their flight was quite literally around the corner._

_Roy uncuffed Alena from the car door handle and placed the handcuffs on both of her hands as he dragged her out of the car and onto the runway where the jet was waiting for them._

_ARGUS agents surrounded them, armed with weapons to protect the plane, and all of them circling the plane like sharks circling their prey._

_Alena glanced warningly at Roy who in return flashed her a look that said to her, "_ Don't even think about trying to escape now _."_

_The pilot escorted them to the passenger aisle of the jet where they saw Ralph Dibney scrolling through texts on his phone. He was about to reach for his Double-Shot Macchiato when he saw the other members of his team arrive._

_"Ah!" He exclaimed. "And just when I was starting to feel lonely!"_

_"Nice to see you again, Dibney," Roy said to him. "This is our accomplice, Alena Whitlock, who I'm sure you've heard about through our briefing."_

_"Yeah, you're the typy-type one, right?" Ralph asked her._

_"Kind of," Alena said to him. "I hear you're the guy who likes to stretch the rules."_

_"That's a very high oversimplification of things, but yes," Ralph said to her. "So, why don't we get this show on the road? Next stop, Hope Springs, Idaho!"_

_"Aren't there supposed to be four of us on this jet?" Alena asked._

_Suddenly, the door opened to reveal Kimberly Rebecki, carrying a box of doughnuts. They were somewhat around 5'4 and wore a bright yellow shirt along with golden hoop earrings, both of which complimented their smooth coffee-toned skin flawlessly._

_Kimberly was almost down the aisle when they tripped on their steps, but not before jumping to the floor to save the falling box of doughnuts from imminent destruction for all they knew._

_"Yes!" The detective pumped their fist into the air with a victorious smile. "Sugar, One, Gravity, Zero."_

_Kimberly rose up, brought the box on the table, and opened it for all to see. Inside was an assortment of every kind of delicious doughnuts you could imagine from Krispy Kreme._

_"You stopped for a box of doughnuts along the way?" Ralph asked while grabbing a powdered jelly doughnut._

_"Are you kidding?" Kimberly asked. "Whenever I'm on the job, food helps out a lot more than caffeine. Especially if it's got sugar in it."_

_Roy put away his phone after he sent a reassuring text to Thea, and turned towards the detective, who was happily enjoying a doughnut that was frosted to resemble a particular flag – on that had a yellow stripe on top of a white strip that was on top of a purple stripe, which was on top of a black stripe._

_"So, I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you're the psychic Lyla called in, right?" Ralph said to her._

_"Well, you assume right," Kimberly sharply replied. "Unless you figured out that I'm an extra flight attendant who picked the wrong pair of shoes today." They gestured to a pair of small boots with heels at the bottom, both of which were probably selected in a hurry that morning to make their taxi to the jet._

_"But you're not a flight attendant," Alena said to them._

_Kimberly held their doughnut up like it was a valuable china plate. "No, you're right, I'm not. I'm just the surgeon who came to steal all your intestines and sell them as sausages." Kimberly took a bite out of their doughnut before they started cracking up at the horrified looks on everyone's faces. "I'm just kidding! Allow me to introduce myself," They held out their right hand and said, "I know Lyla's probably told you about me, but please, I insist you call me Kim."_

* * *

_Felicity Smoak combed through the items collected from storage. They were mostly William's belongings with some of Felicity's effects mixed in there. The doctor had already run a bunch of screening and had determined that bringing items from the safehouse would stir some stronger and clearer memories._

_"We kept some of these items as safekeeping," Lyla said. "Just in case you needed to go back into Witness Protection with William." She handed Felicity a tye-dye t-shirt that was splattered with a giant splotch of paint that resembled a combination of black vomit, along with purple frosting and yellow-green boogers._

_"My favorite shirt, I almost forgot about this." Felicity held the shirt in her fingers while smiling warmly at the memory surrounding it. "William made this for me." She fought back tears as she remembered the day she first saw it as a present for her birthday._

_"As per Director Michaels' instruction, all vitals will be monitored to prepare to deal with potential memory loss along with any pain that may associate from your injuries." Dr. Cole explained. "Both Sara and Thea will be on guard to protect you and provide emotional support while Director Michaels will be conducting the interview."_

_"This questioning will be conducted similarly to Zoe's." Lyla chimed in. "If at any point you feel as though it's becoming too much or that there's something you don't remember, just let us know and we'll see what we can do. If you need to stop, we can do that, just say the word whenever you need to."_

_"Thank you," Felicity said._

_"We're all set," Thea said, finishing getting the tripod ready to hold the camera._

_"Sounds good," Sara said. "Are you ready to go back to Hope Springs?"_

_The computer hacker looked at the t-shirt in her hands, holding onto hope with every fiber of her being, and looked at her friend with hope shining in her eyes._

_"Let's do this."_


End file.
